The FWC has thrown out an intractable bargaining declaration bid for deputies at a NSW coal mine, demonstrating a reluctance to intervene in bargaining involving high income workers where arbitration would fundamentally alter an otherwise stable employment relationship.
The FWC will arbitrate a dispute between a research institute and two former employees seeking redundancy payments, after they overcame an objection that only the NTEU is entitled to file the application following the expiry of their "maximum terms".
The ACTU has renewed its call to remove or curb employers' ability to lock out their workforces, after a multinational mining company extended to almost three weeks its freeze on mineworkers returning to the job at an Illawarra coal pit.
In a ruling on little-considered Secure Jobs Act amendments, a FWC full bench has today upheld a decision to allow the Grill'd Norwood deal to continue operating for a further 90 days, finding the agreement's "inferior" conditions "weighty", but the hiatus before termination within the Commission's discretion.
The MEU says its members at a Peabody underground coal mine near Wollongong have been "blindsided" by the company's week-long lockout of 160 mineworkers, saying it is a disproportionate response to limited protected action.
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.
The FWC has closely considered its new discretion to overlook minor procedural or technical shortcomings in making of agreements before finally rejecting a proposed deal it "reluctantly" declined to wave through initially because the employer failed to explain negative aspects for some workers.
In a landmark decision letting Sydney Trains and NSW Trains put a multi-enterprise deal to a vote despite the ETU's opposition, a FWC full bench has for the first time granted a voting request order under Secure Jobs reforms.
