Axed Qantas staff want their jobs back as legal battle continues

More than half of the baggage handlers, cabin cleaners and ground crew sacked by Qantas want their jobs back.

More than half of the ground crew staff sacked by Qantas want to return to work as a legal dispute drags on.

Four in five of the 1500 sacked workers have filled out an independent survey commissioned by the Transport Workers Union.

Of those who responded, 78 per cent said they wanted their jobs reinstated.

The TWU won a partial victory in July in its Federal Court case against Qantas over the company’s decision to outsource baggage handlers, ramp workers and cabin cleaners.

Justice Michael Lee ruled that the outsourcing was unlawful and partially driven by many of the axed workers being union members with stronger bargaining ability.

Qantas has vowed to appeal the Federal Court’s decision.

The TWU is fighting against the imminent appeal and plans to submit the survey results to the Federal Court as evidence.

Qantas and the Transport Workers Union are in an ongoing legal dispute over the outsourcing of ground crew workers. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Jono Searle

The union has written to the airline’s board members urging them to call off the appeal and offer workers their jobs back.

“Many of us sat through the court proceedings and found them distressing and painful,” the letter said.

“Hearing that the pandemic was seen as a ‘vanishing window’ and a ‘transformational opportunity’ was devastating.

“We were deliberately targeted because we were about to begin negotiations for better pay and conditions as is our workplace right.”

The letter is signed by 3000 former workers and supporters, along with TWU national secretary Michael Kaine and four Labor MPs.

The airline celebrated its 101st birthday on Tuesday, the same day the Australian Transport Safety Bureau released the results of its investigation in to a Qantas 787 plane that took off with locking pins still in place.

The ATSB found that workforce restructuring and an inexperienced ground crew contributed to the oversight.

“Only one of the Qantas ground crew that spoke with the ATSB, advised they were aware that the 787 had five gear pins,” the ATSB report said.

“In addition, it was the first time towing a 787 for all the ground crew except the 787 licensed aircraft maintenance engineer.”

TWU national secretary Michael Kaine is calling on Qantas to give the workers their jobs back. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

The TWU has seized on the results of the investigation to bolster its calls for the outsourced workers to be reinstated.

Qantas senior management have said the outsourcing was a difficult but necessary decision.

Chairman Richard Goyder told the airline’s annual general meeting this month that Qantas “fundamentally” disagreed with the Federal Court judgment.

He said the airline was motivated “only by lawful commercial reasons, including saving $100m a year in the middle of a global pandemic”.

A separate court process is looking at potential remedies for outsourced employees should the appeal be unsuccessful.

“While the TWU is pushing for reinstatement, we no longer have a ground handling business to reinstate former employees to, nor the equipment to do the work,” Mr Goyder said.

“Should the appeal be unsuccessful, we believe compensation is the more likely outcome.”

NCA NewsWire contacted Qantas for comment and the airline said it had no updates on the case since the comments made at the AGM.

Reinstatement hearings will begin on December 13, with Justice Lee indicating his intention to reach a decision by the end of the year to provide workers with some certainty.

Appeal hearings are due to begin in February 2022.