Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the height of the pandemic, Qantas illegally sacked 1,700 workers in an outrageous act of industrial bastardry. Shamelessly attempting to use the pandemic for cover, they sought to dishonestly strip their own workers of their legal rights, using industrial relations loopholes. Showing utter disdain for their employees, Qantas management put these workers and their families through hell, further decoupling their organisation from its workforce and failing their shareholders, customers and employees in the process.

Rather than defend these workers against this shameful action, the former government, in typical Liberal fashion, abandoned them and instead delivered Qantas more than $2 billion in taxpayer funded handouts. As always, it was left to the union movement and the Labor Party to stand by these 1,700 workers and hold Qantas to account. Congratulations to the Transport Workers Union on this historic win. Thank you to Mem Suleyman and Mike McNess from the Vic/Tas branch for their fierce representation and defence of airport workers from my community. Thanks also to Michael Kaine and the TWU national office for their perseverance and their leadership.

To the Qantas board and management: you are personally responsible for the largest illegal sacking in Australian history. You spent three years inflicting enormous pain on 1,700 families, without a shred of remorse. Not only did you take their livelihoods; you tried to strip them of their dignity. But you have failed. You've brought nothing but shame upon yourselves. Consider your positions.