More than 1,000 domestic cabin crew at Qantas have authorised protected action including 24-hour strikes and overtime bans in the lead-up to the busy pre-Christmas travel period, as their union resists the airline's push for longer rostered hours and to hold annual pay rises to 3% as inflation soars.
Towage company Svitzer is set to lock out its harbour tugboat workforce, claiming it has been forced into it by continuing disruptive protected action by three maritime unions.
A court has told the RTBU it will have to wait until next year to learn whether it might be exposed to damages after Sydney Trains workers bargaining for a new deal gave customers "free rides" as part of industrial action over a six-week period.
The CFMMEU's mining & energy division is seeking authorisation from members to take industrial action as it pursues the replacement of the biggest enterprise agreement in the Queensland coalfields, after losing patience with BHP in FWC-brokered negotiations.
The FSU says members at the NAB are preparing to take industrial action if the bank does not improve on its response to claims that include "industry-leading salary increases", increased branch staffing ratios and the abolition of "excessive" working hours.
A prominent IR academic has told today's jobs summit that the optimism that attended the Fair Work Act's introduction in 2009 was "misplaced", with workers in the years since unable to effectively exercise power when bargaining.
Westpac is holding out a $1000 incentive to encourage employees to vote up its proposed agreement that promises a 4% rise in January for employees earning less than $95,000, when inflation is forecast to reach almost 8%, but the FSU says it should be increasing its base pay offer as the union pursues a 6% boost.
Qantas has secured new deals with freight pilots and unlicenced aircraft engineers but the threat of turmoil looms, with licensed engineers voting to stop work, ground crew considering it and the FAAA claiming domestic fight attendants are facing ultimatums.
The AWU will trial a centralised "strategic bargaining initiative" with major national employers - like Boral, Hanson and John Holland - because they are "exploiting" the union's state-by-state, site-by-site approach to enterprise negotiations.
