Provisional wage review timetable approved; Secure jobs inquiry queries witness treatment; New FWC website to launch this weekend; Permit suspended after underwhelming case; Productivity Inquiry gets underway; Labour Hire Authority thwarts "phoenixing"; and Feedback sought on online hearings.
A FWC full bench has warned the ABCC it is a "misuse" of power to raise appeal grounds contrary to its initial position, while rejecting the construction watchdog's claim the tribunal must consider a need for general deterrence when deciding whether to suspend or revoke entry permits.
A court has today imposed fines of 90% of the maximum on the "rogue" construction union and 80% on its Queensland leader for failing to provide 24 hours notice before officials entered a construction site for bargaining discussions with workers, after the head contractor insisted they be held off-site.
A Federal Court judge has accepted that the CFMMEU's offer to foot the bill for external training of its officials amounted to exhibiting enough contrition to keep a lid on penalties for entry breaches.
The Federal Court has criticised the ABCC's "misrepresentation" of evidence in pleadings and a media release, concluding the watchdog bore some responsibility for a subsequent report in a national newspaper that wrongly stated that a CFMMEU organiser made a "throat-slitting" gesture to a truck driver.
The Federal Court has largely declined to take into account the CFMMEU's "recidivism" in setting a penalty against it for an organiser's unintended racial slur when he complained to a supervisor of southeast Asian background about the "third world" state of a Perth building site.
A full Federal Court has dismissed the latest in a raft of cases brought by a former ABCC inspector sacked for failing to disclose criminal and disciplinary proceedings when he served as a police officer, clearing the way for NSW Police to sequester his bankrupt estate to recover court-ordered costs.
The FWC has chosen not to withdraw an entry permit from a CFMMEU organiser fined $4500 for belittling and bullying conduct but warned the "well from which he drank" by expressing contrition and offering assurances "will likely have run dry" if he returns.
The turmoil in Victoria's construction sector in the wake of its shutdown and Melbourne's anti-vaccination protests is continuing, with the resignation of a key IR advisor to the Andrews Labor Government.
