Union notches up another legal win over Qantas

Qantas has failed to convince a court to delay a hearing about the reinstatement of 2000 ground-handling workers.

Former Qantas baggage handlers could know as early as next month whether they will get their jobs back following the mass outsourcing of ground handling workers in January.

Qantas has failed to convince the Federal Court to delay hearings about the reinstatement of sacked ground-handling workers until after an appeal could be heard.

The Transport Workers Union took the airline to court over the outsourcing of 2000 below-wing jobs to third party providers such as Swissport, Menzies and dnata.

Qantas argued the decision was made solely to save the airline $100m a year but Federal Court judge Michael Lee found the move was partly motivated by the threat of industrial action by the workers.

The TWU is seeking to have the workers reinstated and financially compensated as a result of Justice Lee’s ruling, with a preliminary remedy hearing set down for October 1.

In a Federal Court hearing on Monday, Qantas sought to delay that hearing until after its appeal could be dealt with, early next year, due to the cost involved.

The stay application was heard by Justice Nye Perram, who opened the hearing with the disclosure he was a member of Qantas’s exclusive invitation-only Chairman’s Lounge.

Representing Qantas, barrister Bret Walker said he did not believe that was a reason for Justice Perram to recuse himself from the matter, and Noel Hutley for the TWU agreed.

“Beyond personal envy, we have no problem with that,” Mr Hutley said.

Mr Walker told the court that reinstatement was not a matter Qantas could ever seriously entertain, and it would be very foolish of the court to make such an order before their appeal was heard.

He argued that the remedy hearings would amount to an unnecessary extra cost if held before the appeal which was due to go before the court in February.

Mr Hutley said that delaying a decision on reinstatement would further disadvantage workers who were terminated by Qantas in January.

“It’s not a question of whether people have moved on, it’s a question of whether they would want to move back,” he said.

In a five-page judgment delivered on Tuesday, Justice Perram said he had resolved that a delay of the remedy proceedings would be more prejudicial to the TWU than Qantas.

TWU national secretary Michael Kaine welcomed the ruling, and said Qantas could easily avoid court costs by dropping its costly appeal.

“The truth is, Qantas has deep pockets when it comes to paying legal fees, which are simply forecasted as the cost of doing business,” Mr Kaine said.

“This is the second failed attempt in as many weeks by Qantas to delay a reinstatement hearing and drag out the suffering of families it wronged. Workers deserve an answer.”

A Qantas spokesman said it was irresponsible for the TWU to continue to give its members false hope of getting their old jobs back.

“The impact the latest lockdowns in Melbourne and Sydney have had on domestic travel shows why it was so important that we unlocked the structural savings from outsourcing the remainder of our ground handling,” he said.