Canberra - Australia's highest court warned a union-busting stevedoring firm yesterday it could face an enormous bill for damages if it failed to win legal backing for its sacking of 1,400 workers.
Lawyers for Patrick Stevedores sought permission in the High Court to appeal against an earlier order from a lower court to reinstate the unionised workers. The High Court said there was a possibility that the Federal Court had the power to award damages. Patrick sacked its entire union workforce on April 7th as part of a government-backed campaign to break the union's monopoly on waterfront labour.