Union calls for Board change Qantas after High Court defeat |

Australia’s influential Transport Workers Union (TWU) is calling for a full replacement of the Qantas Board of Directors, following a High Court ruling on Wednesday. The Court upheld two earlier verdicts that said that the airline had illegally outsourced 1.700 ground staff during the Covid crisis in 2020. TWU holds the entire Board responsible for this and wants new CEO Vanessa Hudson to publicly apologize to the sacked workers. Union calls for Board change Qantas after High Court defeat The High Court ruling comes one week after Hudson entered office as the new CEO following the earlier-than-expected retirement of her predecessor Alan Joyce on September 4. Joyce has been held responsible for numerous operational problems at Qantas, which have severely tarnished the reputation of the airline amongst Australians. Joyce has planned to retire in November, with Hudson assigned as his successor in May. “The Joyce regime has been toppled, but the airline cannot achieve the reset necessary for its survival under the same board that resided over the largest case of illegal sackings in Australian corporate history. Richard Goyder cannot make it through another day as Chair,” said TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine in a media statement. “Qantas needs a fresh start. A worker voice on the board would make a significant difference and send the right signal that Qantas is serious about getting back on track.” He also called for Joyce to be stripped of all bonuses, which could add up to $24 million until November. Breaching the Fair Work Act Qantas announced in August 2020 that it would outsource ground operations to external companies, in an attempt to reduce costs. After the outbreak of the pandemic, the airline’s international network came to an almost complete standstill while domestic services operated at much-reduced levels. Outsourcing ground operations resulted in the sacking of some 1.700 workers. TWU always claimed that Qantas breached the Fair Work Act by outsourcing staff to 38 different entities, which prevented them from accessing industrial rights to collectively bargain and take protected industrial action. Qantas claimed during two Federal Court hearings that the sacking was needed for lawful commercial reasons. Although the airline lost twice in Federal Courts (the last time in July 2022), it decided to appeal at the High Court. In today’s ruling, the High Court agrees that Qantas had commercial reasons for outsourcing, but that the main reason behind the decision had been to prevent industrial action and strikes. The Court upholds a ruling from the Federal Court that Qantas will not be obliged to reinstate the sacked workers, but they will have to be paid compensation and penalties. Qantas says that it will consider this, but will factor in redundancy payments already paid out. A Federal Court will now have to determine compensation and penalties. In a statement, the airline says it acknowledges and accepts the outcome of the Court. But it adds: “As we have said from the beginning, we deeply regret the personal impact the outsourcing decision had on all those affected and we sincerely apologize for that.” But Qantas notes that the decision to outsource ground operations must be seen in the context of the Covid crisis: “The likelihood of a years’ long crisis led Qantas to restructure its business to improve its ability to survive and ultimately recover.” Destroyed reputation The apology in the media statement is not enough for TWU. “All eyes will be on Vanessa Hudson as she responds to this verdict. Illegally sacked workers are owed an apology and an end to Qantas’ attempts to delay paying compensation and penalties,” says Michael Kaine. “Hudson must reverse the destructive business model at Qantas that has exploited or attempted to manufacture loopholes to axe and outsource essential workers to 38 different entities. These actions have destroyed the airline and its reputation.” TWU points to the increasing number of ground handling incidents since ground operations have been outsourced. The union says this incident happened in Brisbane in early September. (TWU) The union points to the dramatic increase of complaints from customers in 2022, which went up by seventy percent. They include canceled flights, delays, and mishandled bags, for which Alan Joyce apologized earlier. TWU claims that since Swissport took over most of Qantas’ ground operations, there has been a raft of safety incidents. These include injuries from ground staff and ground vehicle collisions, like one in Brisbane last week. But also the incorrect loading of aircraft and doors kept open, the loading of undocumented dangerous goods on aircraft, and the offloading of firearms on arrivals carrousels. In August, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) remarked that it “continues to receive more complaints about Qantas than about any other business. Last year alone the ACCC received more than 1.300 complaints about Qantas cancellations, accounting for half of all complaints about Qantas reported to the ACCC.” As reported, the ACCC launched legal action against Qantas over tickets that the airline continued to sell for flights between May and July 2022 that had internally been removed from the schedule and canceled. This could result in a $600 million penalty if Qantas is found guilty. The airline faces another court challenge from customers, who say they have been misled and denied refunds for canceled flights. Qantas and its subsidiary Jetstar have $470 million in unpaid travel credits to customers that had been unused since the pandemic. The credits were to expire on December 31, but can now be claimed indefinitely. As TWU notes, Qantas also faces “an unprecedented criminal prosecution from the New South Wales safety regulator for standing down a health and safety representative during the pandemic.” Passing the Loopholes Bill Kaine concluded: “The airline and the industry need saving from themselves. We need the Federal Parliament to urgently pass the Closing the Loopholes Bill, and the Federal Government to establish an independent commission to ensure aviation decisions are made in the interests of workers, customers and the public.” The Australian Services Union (ASU) also called on the Federal Government to “close those loops that allow for exploitation in our industrial relations system. Qantas’ new management has a serious task ahead of it to rebuild the trust of workers and the traveling public,” National Secretary Emeline Gaske is quoted on SkyNews Australia.

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