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.
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 full Federal Court has cast doubt over a $40 million underpayments case after ruling that a FWC presidential member and a bench led by president Adam Hatcher failed to properly consider an employer's arguments about the improbability of penalty rates not already being wrapped up in loaded rates paid under two agreements.
A FWC full bench has expressed disappointment a "demarcation dispute" might derail a Sydney Trains multi-deal despite in-principle agreement, as it gives bargaining parties a 5pm deadline to consider its recommendation to resolve an outstanding ETU claim.
A FWC bench has granted the MEU a majority support determination for officers at a Glencore monitoring centre after quashing findings that they are excluded by union rules suggesting they are linked to a defunct association said to have evolved into Professionals Australia.
The SDA is challenging what it says is the FWC's failure to immediately terminate a long-expired substandard agreement, arguing that it did not properly consider the unfairness to workers when it allowed the deal to continue to operate for a further three months.
In a significant decision on the ambit of intractable bargaining determinations, a FWC full bench has found it has the power to require employers to backpay former workers.
A FWC presidential member has lauded the Secure Jobs' compulsory post-PABO conferences that enable the Commission to "jumpstart" and accelerate bargaining, while at the same time reducing the incentive for unions to take industrial action.
A FWC bench has emphasised the tribunal's need to properly scrutinise proposed agreements in finding that a senior tribunal member failed to follow principles of open justice when refusing to provide a union with the names of applicants for a mining services deal ultimately found to be a sham.
Employers with significant casual workforces have been given a guided tour of new legislative filters for assessing whether proposed deals are genuinely agreed, in a FWC decision focussing on the Fair Work Act's "employed at the time" provision.
