Qantas' last-ditch High Court outsourcing appeal begins today
Qantas’ High Court appeal over the outsourcing of around 1,700 ground workers kicks off today, with the airline set to argue that the employees did not have the right to take protected industrial action (PIA) at the time the decision was made. The Federal Court previously ruled that Qantas had sacked the 1,683 workers in 2020-21 to head off industrial action, which is illegal under the Fair Work Act. This decision was upheld last year by the Full Federal Court, though the courts did not force Qantas to reinstate the workers. In a statement, a spokesperson for Qantas said that the airline’s survival was “not assured” when it outsourced the workers in a bid to save A$100m per year, and that the workers were not legally permitted to take PIA as their agreement had not expired and the process for a protected action ballot had not yet commenced. “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. Ultimately, we lost $25b in revenue so there was no way to avoid having to make significant changes,” the spokesperson said. “While the Federal Court accepted that we had lawful and compelling commercial reasons for making the outsourcing decision, it was not convinced that preventing protected industrial action in 2021 was not relevant in the decision to outsource. We have always rejected this, which is why are taking our appeal to the High Court. 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.”<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2023-05-09/oneworld/qantas-last-ditch-high-court-outsourcing-appeal-begins-today
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Qantas' last-ditch High Court outsourcing appeal begins today
Qantas’ High Court appeal over the outsourcing of around 1,700 ground workers kicks off today, with the airline set to argue that the employees did not have the right to take protected industrial action (PIA) at the time the decision was made. The Federal Court previously ruled that Qantas had sacked the 1,683 workers in 2020-21 to head off industrial action, which is illegal under the Fair Work Act. This decision was upheld last year by the Full Federal Court, though the courts did not force Qantas to reinstate the workers. In a statement, a spokesperson for Qantas said that the airline’s survival was “not assured” when it outsourced the workers in a bid to save A$100m per year, and that the workers were not legally permitted to take PIA as their agreement had not expired and the process for a protected action ballot had not yet commenced. “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. Ultimately, we lost $25b in revenue so there was no way to avoid having to make significant changes,” the spokesperson said. “While the Federal Court accepted that we had lawful and compelling commercial reasons for making the outsourcing decision, it was not convinced that preventing protected industrial action in 2021 was not relevant in the decision to outsource. We have always rejected this, which is why are taking our appeal to the High Court. 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.”<br/>
