Outside of court, Michael Kaine, national secretary of the Transport Workers Union (TWU), described the hearing as the start of concluding “a protracted, brutal, distressing set of litigation” initiated in 2020 after Qantas terminated the workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

What is the case against Qantas?

Qantas pursued the case to the High Court, which unanimously confirmed the Federal Court’s ruling that the company violated the Fair Work Act by outsourcing the workers, thus barring them from utilizing industrial rights to engage in collective bargaining and undertake protected industrial actions.

Kaine emphasized, “We must deliver a very strong, unmistakable message to Qantas and every other company in Australia that this can never, ever happen again to any Australian worker.”

What has Qantas said?

“We do wish for the workforce that was impacted to be properly remediated and the compensation that has been agreed could go some way to deal with that,” she said.

The Transport Workers Union said a strong message must be sent to Qantas. Source: AAP / Dan Himbrechts

The compensation payments will start flowing to workers by the end of May, with a base payment of $10,000 for all workers.

“They put it in an affidavit in these proceedings, because if you show contrition in penalty proceedings, the judge is bound to consider whether that should provide you with a discount on your penalty,” he said.

‘It’s changed their world’

“It’s been the same conversation for five years and we just want it to go away, but we want them to pay,” he said.