Qantas workers will confront company managers at its annual general meeting on Friday about concerns underemployed staff are struggling to get by on part-time wages.
A survey by the Transport Workers Union (TWU) of around 400 aviation industry workers, released on Wednesday, found 70 per cent claim to be struggling to meet living costs due to underemployment.
Qantas's net profit of $557 million in the 2014-15 completed a remarkable $3.3 billion one-year turnaround, due in part, to a restructure that saw thousands of staff laid off and worker's hours reduced.
The TWU says no full-time ground staff have been employed by the Qantas group since 2011.
Meanwhile, subsidiary Qantas Ground Services (QGS) has employed over 1500 people - all of which were guaranteed only part-time hours, the union said.
"The maximum guaranteed income for a QGS worker is just $571 a week," the TWU's Shane O'Brien said.
Due the irregular hours of work, workers face difficulty gaining a supplementary job outside of aviation.
Mr O'Brien also criticised an 18-month wage freeze, agreed to by the union, as Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce's salary increased from $2 million to almost $12 million.
"I don't know how Mr Joyce can justify having his base salary increased by 500 per cent and then saying to someone on $571 a week, 'you have to go another 18 months without a wage increase,'" Mr O'Brien said.
Qantas has dismissed the survey.
"The Qantas group employs over 30,000 people and the vast majority of our employees are employed on a full-time basis," a company spokeswoman said.
"The Fair Work Commission noted that Qantas baggage handlers and ground staff, who the TWU represent, are some of the highest paid in the Australian aviation industry."
The airline said some of its operations are better suited to part-time work due to the nature of their flight schedule.
