Australian airline, Qantas, has been dealt yet another blow after it lost its High Court bid to overturn a Federal Court ruling that it illegally sacked around 1700 ground handling staff during the pandemic.
While the lost jobs were outsourced by Qantas at 10 different airports, Qantas maintained it made the decision for commercial reasons during the pandemic.
The Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) told the High Court the airline had been motivated to head off industrial action when things returned to normal.
Qantas took the case to the High Court after losing twice in the Federal Court, which found the decision to outsource the jobs did breach the law. The appeal was unanimously rejected.
The case was focused on how the Fair Work Act should be interpreted.
The TWU said on X that the decision to reject Qantas’ appeal was “a massive victory for the workers who have not stopped fighting for justice since they were outsourced”.
