Lawyers say Qantas is facing a compensation bill of hundreds of millions of dollars for illegally sacking workers in the middle of pay negotiations. 1700 ground crew including baggage handlers and cleaners will receive payouts after being let go during the pandemic.
Category
đź“ş
TVTranscript
00:00It was a day that these Qantas workers had been fighting for, for four years.
00:10Compensation for being illegally sacked when the airline outsourced their roles as they
00:15were preparing to strike.
00:16I can put it behind me now and it can pay bills that I didn't anticipate.
00:22I expected to be there until I retired and when this happened it was an absolute shock.
00:28The 1,700 sacked ground crew will now receive payouts for what they went through, ranging
00:34from $30,000 to $100,000 each.
00:38Marriages have broken down as a result of this.
00:41People have lost houses.
00:43People have had distress, have had mental illnesses.
00:47Workers will also be compensated for one year of lost work after the court found the airline
00:53would have legally outsourced their roles in 2021.
00:57This is the spirit of Australia.
00:59You dig in when it gets tough and you don't give up and here we are today having a massive
01:05victory.
01:06Altogether, the airline is facing a big bill.
01:09It'll probably end up somewhere between say $300 and $350 million in compensation.
01:17While this might sound like a lot, this lawyer says that the company still saved cash by
01:22outsourcing the roles.
01:24Well I think what they've done was the right decision financially because it will have
01:28saved them money.
01:29The airline had set aside $70 million for this legal battle but now it has to go away
01:35and figure out the final bill.
01:38It says it'll be working with the union through a mediation process and once again it's apologised
01:44to its sacked workers.
01:46The airline is also facing a fine which will be decided at a later date.