The Federal Court has programmed a 10-day hearing in March next year to determine any compensation for the 1680 Qantas group employees the airline subjected to unlawful adverse action when it outsourced their jobs at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
The High Court has this afternoon declined to hear DEWR's challenge to a ruling that limits funds available to pay employee entitlements when a company goes under.
The Federal Court has today ordered the TWU's leader and Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson to attend mediation before former Chief Justice James Allsop over the compensation of about 1700 former ground crew, following the High Court's finding last week that the airline engaged in unlawful adverse action against them.
The High Court has today unanimously held that Qantas took unlawful adverse action against nearly 2000 former ground crew when it outsourced their jobs at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, when their agreements were due to nominally expire.
CFMMEU mining and energy division members have this week kicked off protected action in BHP's Queensland coal mines, sparking early sparring over the company's proposed ban on allowing workers back into their accommodation camp while on strike.
Qantas has hit back at ACTU research detailing the labour hire "loopholes" it allegedly uses to suppress wages and conditions to the extent that on-hire managers, after more than a decade on the job, are earning less than the directly-engaged workers they supervise.
Labor Senator Tony Sheldon has hinted the Albanese Government will move quickly to introduce "urgent" legislative changes if the High Court overturns a Federal Court finding that Qantas took unlawful adverse action against nearly 2000 former ground crew when it rejected an in-house tender and outsourced their jobs.
The FWC has found that a HR manager who quit after her employer changed her responsibilities was not forced to resign, noting that although she had to report to a different manager, "a change in a reporting line does not constitute constructive dismissal".
The ASU is urging members to vote up a new Qantas deal that blocks the outsourcing of ground handling roles but allows the Flying Kangaroo to shift about 850 "senior professionals" onto individual contracts.
