Unions have today sought authorisation to strike at BHP's iron ore export operations at Port Hedland, after claiming to have been "stonewalled" during bargaining for new deals.
The prospect of the first lawful strikes in more than 25 years at BHP's Iron Ore mines has moved closer, after ETU members on a crucial Pilbara power network voted up a protected action ballot.
BHP says it has contingency plans in place to ensure continuity of power supply to its Pilbara mines and ports, as 60 workers who operate its remote electricity grid threaten what it says is its WA iron ore operation's first protected action this century.
An emergency care flight service has withdrawn objections to an ANMF protected action ballot of nurses and midwives, and the FWC has found no reason to block it, after the union inserted a caveat to protect patient safety.
Following on from its wins at Sydney and Melbourne independent bookstores, RAFFWU is leading strikes and work bans at Berkelouw Books and Harry Hartog, where it says workers remain on a small-cohort 2012 "zombie" agreement that the union says pays "poverty wages" and should never have been approved.
The FWC has announced a first-of-its-kind review of protected action ballot agents approved under Secure Jobs legislation, revealing that one has captured more than a third of the market.
The TWU is threatening strikes in the cash-in-transit industry in three states - with 99% of Victorian Armaguard workers already voting in favour - arguing its hand has been forced by a lack of progress in pay talks, eight months after the union's novel bid to rope-in the industry's major customers to secure pay rises.
Grave diggers and funeral workers are set to vote on strikes and cremation bans after the FWC rejected claims that no amount of notice will avert "significant consequences", while also backing the AWU's objection to the employer's proposed survey of its workforce to gauge its views.
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.
The FWC has refused to order the UWU to stop picketing that has allegedly blocked access to a major baking supplier's manufacturing facility, finding that it had not impeded bargaining and that the employer produced no evidence of its economic impact.
