Qantas faces multimillion-dollar bill over illegally firing 1700 workers

The Transport Workers Union has been slammed for “sitting on its backside” in a years-long fight to compel Qantas to compensate 1700 illegally sacked workers.

The Transport Workers Union has been slammed for wasting the court’s time amid a lengthy battle to compel Qantas to compensate 1700 illegally sacked workers.

The Federal Court ruled in 2021 that the embattled airline had acted unlawfully when it sacked the ground services employees in 2020 and outsourced their roles to contractors.

Qantas’ attempts to overturn the guilty verdict were unsuccessful, and the matter returned to the Federal Court on Monday to determine compensation.

Outside court, Transport Workers Union lawyer Josh Bornstein estimated the payments for sacked workers would be “very, very substantial, running into the many millions of dollars”.

The union argued the enormity of the compensation estimate is commensurate with Qantas’ guilt in the largest case of illegal sackings in Australia’s corporate history.

Qantas has been found guilty of illegally sacking 1700 workers. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

On Monday, Justice Michael Lee accused the TWU of “wasting the court’s time” after its barrister Mark Gibian SC said the union would be seeking compensation for lost membership fees.

Justice Lee said it was the “first (he’d) heard of that”, despite his appeals to the parties to have compensation claims lodged last year.

He told the court he had intended to deal with all of the compensation claims against Qantas during a single hearing.

Justice Lee demanded to know “what possible excuse” the union had for being “sat on (its) backside” during the months it could have been preparing its claim.

“It’s all well and good to send out tweets patting yourself on the back about how much you’re looking out for your members, but perhaps using court processes responsibly in order to get this resolved quickly for members might be a good way of proceeding,” he told TWU’s lawyer.

“It’s not good enough.”

Mr Gibian explained he believed the union’s claim could be heard at the same time as a future hearing about penalties against Qantas.

Justice Lee refused to hold two separate compensation hearings, telling the court he is conscious of the need to resolve the years-long dispute and get compensation “into the hands of workers as quickly as possible.”

The airline will have to pay compensation to its former employees. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

The court was told 716 of the 1700 illegally fired staff had been TWU members.

Qantas’ lawyer Matthew Follett SC said the compensation claim would rely on the union’s membership records, which had previously been criticised for a “lack of clarity and rigour”.

Justice Lee declared TWU could submit its application for separate compensation after the hearing to determine the amount to be paid to the illegally sacked workers.

Outside court, former Qantas employee Don Dixon told reporters he hoped it would finally be the end of a three-year legal battle with the airline.

“Probably the most fundamental thing for all the workers I represent is we did absolutely nothing wrong,” he said.

In a statement, Qantas repeated its apology to the 1700 affected workers.

“Qantas sincerely apologises and deeply regrets the personal impact the outsourcing decision had on these former employees,” a spokesperson said.

“We want them to receive fair compensation as quickly as possible.”

TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine (grey jacket) beside former Qantas worker Don Dixon. Picture: NCA NewsWire

Justice Lee noted he had made a concerted effort to allow the parties to resolve the matter during mediation, which was attended by Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson. However, an agreement was not reached.

TWU national secretary Michael Kaine said the 1700 workers had “been through hell” after being unlawfully sacked three years ago.

“It’s time for Qantas to pay up,” he said.

Parliamentary secretary for industrial relations Mark Buttigieg said the ruling against the airline was a “damning indictment against a once great company”.

He noted Qantas accepted $800m of taxpayer funds to keep people employed before they unlawfully sacked 1700 staff.

“I hope Qantas learns from this lesson, this litany of failures, and treating employees so shabbily and comes to the party to do the right thing,” the Labor MP said.

Originally published as Qantas faces multimillion-dollar bill over illegally firing 1700 workers