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February 14th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda The Transport Workers Union (TWU) may have to cough up more than $750,000 in compensation to Qantas after losing an appeal over illegal strikes at four Australian airports.
The judgment, handed down by the Federal Court in Sydney on Tuesday, upheld that four-hour work stoppages in 2009 contravened the Workplace Relations Act 1996 and that the union may have to pay compensation.
Although costs have not yet been awarded, Qantas said the finding sent a strong message to unions.
“If they act unlawfully and damage our business they are responsible for the financial impact of this action,” the airline said in a statement.
The carrier’s win came as the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) raised fears that hundreds of engineers could soon lose their jobs.
ALAEA federal secretary Steve Purvinas said there were rumours that Qantas would use the unveiling of its half-yearly financial results on Thursday to announce job cuts.
“It wouldn’t surprise me that Qantas would shed hundreds of jobs,” Mr Purvinas told AAP on Tuesday.
He said the airline had been pushing to move more engineering work overseas.
But Qantas said there was always speculation surrounding the company and it would not respond to every rumour.
“(However) any suggestion that Qantas is sending jobs offshore is totally incorrect,” it said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the TWU also flagged concerns of jobs being shipped offshore and called on the federal government to introduce laws that would crack down on the use of overseas cheap labour.
Thai air crew working for Jetstar had given evidence before a Senate inquiry last year that they were working on Australian domestic flights for up to 23 hours a day, for five to six days a week and were paid $400 (US$427.92) a month, TWU national secretary Tony Sheldon said.
“This is cheap, exploited labour and the government has to bring it to a stop,” Mr Sheldon told reporters in Canberra.
He said new legislation was needed to deal with the “ferocious appetite” employers had to outsource jobs overseas.
Qantas later rejected Mr Sheldon’s statements, saying Jetstar’s international crew do not operate on domestic flights.
“They do operate on the domestic sector of some international flights. This is a standard industry practice called ‘tag flights’, used by other airlines operating in Australia and around the world,” Qantas group executive Olivia Worth said.
She said the airline’s overseas-based crew who worked on international flights were also paid five times the figures Mr Sheldon was claiming.
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