Rio Tinto is pushing the FWC to reject the AWU's majority support application for the company's Paraburdoo iron ore mines, arguing that the union doesn't have the numbers and has failed to clearly define the scope of its proposed agreement.
A former Labor MP and current FWC deputy president has, after fending off another recusal application, dismissed claims it would be unfair, unreasonable or unconstitutional to grant same-job, same-pay orders lifting the pay of on-hire workers at a Whitehaven coal mine by up to $30,000 a year.
A government agency has been scolded for failing to pay travel allowances after admitting that it slipped its notice that the claims had been processed manually by two firefighters, one of whom retired while the other went on extended leave.
In a significant decision the ETU describes as "deeply troubling", the Federal Court has found full-time agreement-covered FIFO electricians working on a Fortescue mine project do not accrue paid leave during their monthly "rest and recreation" off-swing.
In a shot in the arm for a paramedic transferred 350km away after an investigator found he bullied a female colleague, a full bench has ruled that bullying falls within a "spectrum of seriousness" and ordered the redetermination of whether he engaged in serious misconduct.
A FWC full bench has axed an 11-year-old deal that excluded minimum engagement periods for casuals, finding that it must terminate agreements if their continued operation would be unfair to "any" rather than all covered employees.
The Federal Court has refused to knock out an ETU claim that an employer fraudulently withheld information from the FWC when seeking approval for a new deal, allegedly concealing that the bulk of those voting had been engaged solely to take part in the ballot.
The FWC has refused to resolve a dispute about whether a remote locality allowance should be calculated on travel by road or "as the crow flies", but has determined, based on the parties' intentions, that a new Gladstone depot would not be covered by the allowance because it is "coastal" rather than remote.
