A labour law academic says there is a need to ask how Australia's IR system is so "fundamentally broken" that it incentivises the conduct evident in Qantas's decision to unlawfully outsource jobs to avoid bargaining, in circumstances where the record $90 million fine imposed yesterday will barely dent its resultant annual savings.
The Federal Court has today ordered Qantas to pay a $90 million fine - including $50 million to the TWU - for the Flying Kangaroo's unlawful outsourcing of the jobs of about 1800 ground handling employees, while it has criticised chief executive Vanessa Hudson for failing to appear to explain the airline's contrition.
A FWC full bench has ruled that Victoria's fire chief displayed an appearance of bias when he decided to suspend two workers for allegedly accessing private work emails at United Firefighters Union Victorian branch secretary Peter Marshall's request.
Days after the High Court refused permission to appeal a key decision recognising standby duty as paid work, a FWC full bench has weighed its implications for a Qantas subsidiary's long-awaited intractable bargaining workplace determination.
Burger chain Grill'd is making its second attempt to win approval of a national agreement, while the SDA's application to terminate the nominally expired deal depriving workers of award entitlements remains unresolved.
The Federal Court has put unions on notice about what to expect from status quo provisions in dispute resolution clauses, tossing out the AMWU's bid for declarations and penalties against Opal Packaging for changing the way drug and alcohol tests are conducted.
The FWC has pointed to a Victoria Police branch's brush with the "red line threshold" for public sector service delivery as reinforcing the business case for rejecting a prosecutor's request to work from home on Mondays.
The FWC has rejected a host employer's argument that de-boning chickens is specialist work that would fall under the service provision exception, and has made same-job, same-pay orders covering two labour-hire companies that provide workers to a poultry processing plant.
The MEAA has rejected an ABC deal that would have provided a 3% interim pay rise while prohibiting employees from taking industrial action for six-months while they push for 5.5% pay rises each year and a guarantee that AI will not replace human workers.
A last-minute shift to direct employment for on-hire workers of one labour supplier at a major abattoir chain has failed to stymie the meat union's bid for same-job, same-pay orders.
