Outside court, Transport Workers Union (TWU) national secretary Michael Kaine said the hearing was the beginning of the end of “a protracted, brutal, distressing set of litigation” that started in 2020 after Qantas sacked the workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What is the case against Qantas?

Qantas appealed the case all the way to the High Court, which unanimously upheld the Federal Court’s finding it had breached the Fair Work Act by outsourcing the workers, preventing them from accessing industrial rights to collectively bargain and take protected industrial action.

“We have to send a very strong, clear signal to Qantas and every other company in Australia that this can never, ever happen again to any Australian worker,” Kaine said.

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.