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A Federal Court judge has savaged the Transport Workers Union for “wasting the court’s time” and letting down ground handlers whose jobs were illegally outsourced by Qantas for attempting to lodge a separate compensation claim against the airline.
Hearings to establish compensation for the 1700 workers who were sacked in 2020 started on Monday, with Federal Court Justice Michael Lee charged with determining the different levels of compensation by hearing three test cases from separate worker cohorts. The hearings follow a failed mediation process between Qantas and the union.
Qantas is back in court for two weeks of compensation hearings following failed mediation between it and the Transport Workers Union after it was found it illegally sacked 1700 workers. Credit: Kate Geraghty
The TWU’s barrister, Mark Gibian SC, said in his opening remarks the union would probably lodge a separate claim for compensation in addition to the current hearings. This compensation claim would centre on the union’s loss of membership fees following their sacking from the airline business. Of the 1683 ground workers, 716 were members of the union at the time they were outsourced.
However, Lee said he had made it clear he had no intention of sitting through multiple compensation hearings and questioned why Gibian had not raised this matter earlier.
“Why have you sat on your backside and not organised yourselves? What possible excuse is there? Why wouldn’t you use the resources of the court properly?”
“I haven’t got endless time to deal with successive cases,” he said.
‘[You are] sending tweets patting yourselves on the back … but using court processes responsibly to get this resolved might be good.’
Federal Court Judge Michael Lee slamming the Transport Workers Union in a case against Qantas
The Transport Workers Union lodged legal action in the Federal Court against Qantas in 2021. Justice Lee found the airline had contravened the Fair Work Act, a verdict which was upheld in the same court following Qantas’ appeal and then again in the High Court late last year.
Lee also hit out at the union directly on Monday and accused it of failing to prioritise the workers at the centre of this case by attempting to drag out court processes.