The "largely invisible" non-union agreements stream that has been a distinguishing feature of Australia's IR system for more than 25 years has been all but ignored in public and academic debates over the past decade, according to leading researchers.
The FWC has referred its decision to terminate a nominally-expired greenfields agreement to general manager Bernadette O'Neill to consider whether its 2014 approval relied on inaccurate statutory declarations made by the employer's managing director and a CFMMEU State leader.
In a decision emphasising the "reasonable steps" employers must take in explaining proposed agreements to workers, the FWC has refused to approve a large labour hire company's deal after a "lost opportunity" to clarify its terms and its failure to present sufficient detail about information sessions.
The FWC has rebuffed a worker's bid to remain anonymous in opposing an employer's application to terminate an agreement, finding their concerns of "possible acrimony" did not unseat the principles of open justice.
The MUA claims to have seen off the threat of further automation and outsourcing at DP World Australia under a proposed new national enterprise agreement.
The FWC has rebuffed as "premature" a UWU attempt to ballot Toll Transport employees for industrial action after holding only a single meeting with the company's HR manager to discuss a new agreement.
In a clear indication that the recent rash of underpayment disclosures by large companies has not gone unnoticed, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has told a business audience that his government hopes to reduce the current compliance regime's "administrative clutter".
An AWU leader has called on the CFMMEU's construction division to accept that courts and tribunals have determined that the AWU is the "principal union" in civil construction and tunnelling.
The FWC has ordered aerospace company Boeing to promptly deal with a tradesperson's reclassification bid, finding the company's repeated refusal to do so in breach of its enterprise agreement.
