Qantas LOSE landmark High Court case as judges find sacking of 1700 workers was illegal

Qantas illegally outsourced 1,683 ground worker jobs in 2020, the High Court has ruled.

The national carrier was challenging two previous rulings that also determined that the decision to fire baggage handlers, cleaners and ground staff at 10 airports in November 2020 was illegal.

The High Court ruled unanimously in favor of the Transport Workers Union, which challenged Qantas’ argument that it was a necessary step in these uncertain Covid times.

TWU national secretary Michael Kaine suggested affected workers could seek compensation from the airline if the High Court upheld the original ruling.

“If they were not deemed to have been made redundant under the law then they were entitled to continue working and of course that means they were entitled to pay and conditions,” he said. -he declared to Sky News.

He later praised the tenacity of the workers and stressed that “Joyce’s regime has been overthrown.”

“The airline cannot achieve the reset needed to survive under the same board that presided over the largest case of illegal dismissals in Australian corporate history.”

He asked the board to strip former CEO Alan Joyce of his $10.8 million bonus and “follow him out the door.”

In response to Wednesday’s decision, the TWU called for the entire Qantas board to be replaced.

“Richard Goyder and the entire Qantas board must be replaced with new directors, including a workers’ representative, after the High Court today unanimously upheld two Federal Court verdicts that Qantas illegally outsourced 1,700 workers,” the TWU said in a statement.

Qantas has been found in the Federal Court to have breached the Fair Work Act by outsourcing its ground operations to avoid the company’s bargaining rights, after the Transport Workers Union launched legal action against the carrier.

The airline, which laid off staff in 2020, lost billions of dollars due to the pandemic, which decimated the aviation sector.

Justin Gleeson SC for Qantas, told the High Court in May that the airline’s revenues had been wiped out by the pandemic, leaving it “bleeding cash”.

The airline has since recorded an underlying profit of almost $2.5 billion in the last financial year.

Qantas argued it could not have breached employees’ workplace rights because they did not have the right to take protected industrial action at the time of the outsourcing decision.

After the ruling, a Qantas spokesperson said the airline “acknowledges and accepts the decision”.

“As we have said from the outset, we deeply regret the personal impact that the outsourcing decision has had on everyone involved and we sincerely apologize.”

Qantas said the decision to outsource this work was made in August 2020, at a time when “borders were closed, lockdowns were in place and no COVID vaccines existed”.

“The likelihood of a crisis lasting several years led Qantas to restructure its business to improve its ability to survive and ultimately recover.”

Any penalties and compensation that will now be considered will take into account redundancy payments already paid by the airline, Qantas said.

This happens just a day later news.com.au revealed all High Court judges were members of the Qantas chairman’s elite lounge. The TWU boss said on Wednesday he had no concerns about impartiality.

The move comes after a horror month for Qantas, in which CEO Alan Joyce retired two months earlier than planned in an attempt to allay some criticism.

Questions have been raised about the government’s close ties with the national airline after the decision to block Qatar Airways’ bid for more flights to Australian cities.

The decision was made thanks to lobbying by Qantas, although Transport Minister Catherine King said the airline had no role in her decision.

And the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched action in the Federal Court on August 31, alleging that Qantas had “engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct” by selling tickets on sale for more than 8,000 flights already canceled between May and July. year.

The ACCC is seeking to penalize the airline more than $250 million.

In a statement, a Qantas spokesperson acknowledged the airline’s service standards were “insufficient”.

The spokesperson said the airline was aware that the ACCC’s allegations in particular had “raised significant concern among our customers” but that the allegations were taken seriously.

“The ACCC’s allegations come at a time when Qantas’ reputation has already been hit hard on several fronts,” the spokesperson said.

“We want the community to know that we hear and understand their disappointment.

“We know the repair will take time. And we are absolutely determined to do it.

The spokesperson said the period to which the consumer watchdog’s claims relate – mid-2022 – was “a time of high-profile upheaval and uncertainty in the aviation industry”.

Qantas also denied suggestions it had committed to charging a “no-service fee” and said it would respond to the allegations in full “without interrupting the legal process”.

“Our long-standing practice is that when a flight is canceled, customers are offered an alternative flight as close as possible to their original departure time or a refund,” the spokesperson said.

In launching its action, the ACCC alleged that Qantas “continued to sell tickets on its website” for more than two weeks on average – sometimes up to 47 days – after flights were cancelled.

It also alleges that for more than 10,000 flights scheduled over the three months, Qantas “failed to inform existing ticket holders” that their flights had been canceled for an average of 18 days, but in some cases up to 48 days.

Additionally, Mr Joyce received $10.8 million in shares for deferred bonuses during the pandemic – while claiming Qantas had no obligation to repay the $2.7 billion in government payments received during Covid -19.

Last month, Qantas reported a profit of $2.47 billion for the 2022-23 financial year.