Qantas has lost a case brought by the Transport Workers Union that challenged the airline’s decision to axe 2,000 staff and replace them with “insecure” labour hire workers, with a judge finding Qantas boss Andrew David outsourced ground operations partly to prevent employees engaging in industrial action.
The High Court has denied special leave to unions representing 20,000 Qantas workers who were stood down during the coronavirus pandemic to challenge a ruling that they were not entitled to paid sick or compassionate leave.
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The Transport Workers’ Union has amended its case against Qantas challenging a decision to outsource 2,000 jobs, after a Federal Court judge urged the union to consider narrowing the lawsuit against the airline.
Qantas has been hit with a test case to determine whether axing 2,000 ground staff and replacing them with “insecure” labour hire workers is unlawful.
The Full Federal Court has upheld a ruling that the CFMEU was “knowingly concerned” in the refusal of union officers to produce entry permits at a Queensland building site, with the appeals court saying it was”difficult” to understand how the union was not an accessory to the contraventions of its employees.
Aircraft engineers for Qantas are challenging a ruling that the airline had no “genuine choice” when it stood them down in March during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A history of serial offending by the CFMEU could be factored into a court’s finding on the gravity of later breaches of the Fair Work Act, but not to the extent that the union pays a disproportionate penalty, the Full Federal Court has found in a significant ruling that settles conflicting case law.
Qantas has praised a Federal Court judgment ruling that the airline had no “genuine choice” other than standing down its workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the judgment was a “victory for common sense”.
The workplace umpire has jurisdiction to hear a case against Qantas and its budget subsidiary Jetstar brought by the union for licenced aircraft maintenance engineers stood down during the coronavirus pandemic, a judge has ruled in a blow to the airline.