When I last wrote to you, we had just wrapped-up our 2025 Annual Conference, where only the week before Justice Lee issued a $90 million penalty against Qantas – in addition to the $121 million fund set up for the workers illegally sacked by the Joyce Regime. This was the culmination of years of blood, sweat and tears from the Transport Workers’ Union.
To reiterate members, our union has shown unprecedented strength this year. We’ve secured historic wins against powerful corporations, and we’ve shown that when we fight, we win.
The TWU has gained a reputation – rightly so – of taking on the fights nobody else wants to take on, of fighting for workers when the chips are down and still coming out on top. The only reason we can do that is because of our members, who are the most relentless anywhere.
When Justice Lee issued that aforementioned penalty, he recognised that the TWU were the only ones who were willing to take the fight against Qantas on. It’s been a long five years, and as many lawyers weren’t afraid to tell us, the odds didn’t look great, but through the leadership of Branch Secretary Richard Olsen and our National Secretary Michael Kaine, we stuck with it and saw it through to the end.
Qantas was definitely the Goliath in this David and Goliath battle. But Qantas didn’t bet on David’s sling being the 60,000 members of the Transport Workers’ Union.
This is not the only significant victory we’ve seen in Aviation this year. The Union has won Same Job, Same Pay protections for Jetstar workers, forced Virgin not to hire a key architect of Qantas’ illegal sackings, and took action multiple times at Sydney airport, including the first national stoppage since covid with dnata workers – who won huge concessions from their employer.
This saga with Qantas is now finally coming to an end, but the campaign to stop the race to the bottom and reverse the rot of the aviation sector is only just beginning. Only a Safe and Secure Skies commission can ensure that aviation can return to being as sector of skilled, secure jobs, by setting sector-wide standards and holding the clients to account. A stable aviation sector, one that has a healthy and secure workforce, will greatly benefit passengers as well. As Australians, we have all suffered from the incompetence and bad-faith skullduggery of the likes of the Qantas executive, and now it’s time for this sector to heal.
Looking ahead at further Transport Reform, I’m heartened by what we’ve already achieved, and that our newly-won reforms are now secure thanks to the re-election of a Labor federal government.
At the conference, I said to delegates that while we should be immensely proud of what we’ve done so far, it’s not time now to sit back and wait for the next wins to come to us. On the contrary, every battle we’ve won, in the yards, the courts, or in Parliaments, comes from years of hard work. We can’t bet on a Minister knocking on our door and saying “great job on Chapter 6 TWU, here’s what we’re doing next.” It’s on us to set the agenda, keep making our voices heard and to keep up our momentum that we’ve been building.
As many of you know, 2026 will be a big year in our union. Under the “Our Roads, Our Skies, Our Future” campaign, we’ll be fighting to set better sector standards, to make clients pay, and become more member-led. Aligning over 200 EAs for 2026 is another example of what I wrote about just earlier, an instance where years of preparation and planning have gotten us to the fight we’re beginning now. The results of 2026 will determine the rules we’re playing by in 2029, 2032, and 2035.
You continue to be the benchmark that the union movement aspires to live up to. Your relentlessness, your dedication, and most importantly, your guts are what make the Transport Workers’ Union the powerful and respected voice that we are, a voice that echoes through the yards, through the streets, at Parliaments and in courtrooms. You are the voice that employers and governments make sure to listen to, because people know the TWU wins the fights we pick.
When we fight, we win. And we’ll win the next fight too.
Nick McIntosh • TWU Assistant Secretary