Qantas Appeals to High Court Over Illegal Staff Cut During COVID-19 Pandemic

The empty Qantas departure terminal at Melbourne Airport on Aug. 20, 2020. (William West/AFP via Getty Images)

Australia’s flag carrier Qantas has appealed to the country’s highest court to overturn a ruling that the company illegally laid off nearly 1,700 workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This comes after the airline lost its appeal against a Federal Court decision in May 2022.

In 2020, Qantas announced that it would outsource ground handling operations at ten airports across Australia to save $100 million (US$67.6 million) in operating costs.

At the time, the company was suffering significant financial damage due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The decision caused 1,700 baggage handlers, cleaners and ground staff to lose their jobs and prompted the Transport Workers Union (TWU) to file a lawsuit against the airline.

In July 2021, a Federal Court found that Qantas violated the Fair Work Act in outsourcing its ground operations to avoid enterprise bargaining rights.

While the court expected Qantas to compensate the affected workers, it rejected the union’s application for them to be reinstated.

The company then launched an appeal; however, it was dismissed by the court.

Speaking about the High Court appeal, a Qantas spokesperson said the matter concerned the airline’s ability to legally outsource a part of its business to save money when survival was uncertain.

“When we made this decision, we were still in the depth of the pandemic, and there was very little certainty about when our recovery would begin,” the spokesperson told The Epoch Times.

A line of Qantas aircraft sits at Kingsford Smith Airport in Sydney, Australia, on Oct. 31, 2021. (James D. Morgan/Getty Images)

The spokesperson said Qantas rejected the court’s judgment that preventing protected industrial action in 2021 was relevant to its outsourcing decision.

The airline argued that it did not violate the laws since the dismissed workers did not have the right to take protected industrial action when the outsourcing decision was announced.

“We’ve always acknowledged that it would have been very tough on our ground handlers and the thousands of other employees who lost jobs because of the pandemic,” the spokesperson said.

Union’s Response

TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said the High Court’s decision to hear the appeal highlighted the significance and enormity of the matter.

“Whatever the outcome, workers must be applauded for their courage,” he said in a statement.

“This ordeal has been a total calamity for workers, passengers and taxpayers who propped up Qantas during the pandemic with record JobKeeper and other corporate welfare payments while it brutally pushed workers out the door and into Centrelink lines.”

Labor senator Tony Sheldon, a former TWU national secretary, said if the court outcome was in favour of Qantas, the government needed to draft new legislation.

“Quite clearly, this (Fair Work) legislation was put in by the Australian public through the Australian parliament, and the Australian parliament will have the final say,” he told reporters.

Principal lawyer Giri Sivaraman, who represents the TWU, said Qantas lost the case on the facts and that now it was trying to get the High Court to reduce protections in the laws to make its actions legal.

“If Qantas wins, protections for all workers across Australia will be reduced,” he said.

While the first hearing was conducted on May 9, it is likely to take several months for the court to deliver a ruling.

Qantas’ appeal comes after the airline announced a profit after tax of $1 billion in the first half of the 2022-2023 financial year.

The company has also appointed a new CEO to replace Alan Joyce, who has held the position for 15 years when he retires in November.