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.
The QNMU says the Crisafulli Liberal Government has reneged on a commitment to maintain "nation-leading" wages and conditions for the State's nurses and midwives, with an offer that will leave two-thirds of them worse off in three years and hand the competitive edge to Victoria.
More working days lost, as PABOs burgeon; Super Retail suppression orders upheld; Most rapid membership growth in youngest workers: ACTU; and NSW IRC seminar on awards.
In a significant judgment on the statutory nature of a "proposed enterprise agreement", a Federal Court has rejected arguments that rail unions lost protection of their industrial action once the bargaining focus changed from a single to a multi-employer deal.
In a decision tackling an overlooked need to issue protected action ballot orders reflecting a shift to multi-employer bargaining at Sydney Trains and NSW Trains, the FWC has chastised the employers for seeking an additional technical step serving "no purpose" other than to bring about a delay.
