The FWC has dismissed DP World's application for orders to halt an alleged "go slow" at its Melbourne container terminal, citing concerns over the statistical evidence tendered by the stevedore.
A large employer has failed in its bid to have the FWC revisit what constitutes "significant harm" to third parties when considering halting protected industrial action, a full bench finding that the application lacked utility as the strikes concerned had long since ended.
While Metro Trains has secured a Federal Court injunction calling off industrial action that would have enabled Melbourne commuters to travel free, it now faces a four-hour stoppage that the RTBU claims to be a response to "aggressive attacks".
The CFMMEU's maritime division and the NRMA-owned operator of Sydney's Manly Fast Ferry service are expected to face off in the FWC this afternoon over planned stoppages that could start tomorrow, after talks this morning failed to resolve a bargaining impasse.
The FWC earlier this month halted industrial action at BP's Kwinana oil refinery after it accepted that a shutdown of up to a fortnight would be the "unavoidable and inevitable consequence" of protected bans and limitations by AWU members.
A Federal Court judge has questioned the "wisdom or fairness" of laws requiring employers to subtract four hours' pay for as little as 10 minutes unprotected action, after finding the AWU breached the Fair Work Act when an official asked a BlueScope manager not to dock returning strikers for starting a shift late.
The FWC has rejected arguments that the CFMEU engaged in pattern bargaining during negotiations over agreements with two crane operators, clearing the path for indefinite strikes to begin early this morning.
The FWC has found the RTBU organised unprotected industrial action at Queensland Rail in the lead-up to the state's River Fire Festival weekend and couched a directive discouraging members from participating "in terms that rallied" them.
The union leading the campaign against prospective job losses at a major brewery is at risk of being sidelined after the FWC found it "reached the line between [unacceptably careless disregard] and. . . deliberate non-compliance" in failing to communicate restraining notices to members.
A judge has today comprehensively rejected an FWO attempt to rewrite the way courts assess fines for unlawful strikes, ordering the CFMMEU's MUA division to pay $38,000 for a solitary contravention after the watchdog sought $3.6 million in penalties for more than 500 breaches.
