The MUA has begun legal action aimed at requiring the stevedore DP World to engage with 22 employees sacked for not acceding to a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The MUA has accused Patrick of "bullying" after the stevedore yesterday applied to the FWC to terminate its nominally-expired union deal to break a 20-month bargaining deadlock amid a round of strikes at its container terminals in four states.
The TWU says it has reached in-principle agreements with four more big trucking and logistics companies as it continues campaigning against "Amazon-driven" outsourcing, while warning three remaining targets they face strikes this week.
The TWU says Toll workers will not participate in planned national strikes next week if delegates accept an in-principle deal struck with the transport group that includes improved job security and an industry-first 15% employer superannuation contribution.
Major freight operator StarTrack has applied for the FWC to stop a protected 24-hour strike by TWU members on Thursday because it would hamper the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines and other medical supplies.
The MUA has spurned a final offer on a new enterprise agreement from Patrick stevedores, despite the company warning employees it will consider "necessary steps to preserve the business".
The FWC has rejected a chicken processor's argument that it should extend notice of the AMWU's proposed 12-hour maintenance strikes from three to seven days to ensure it doesn't breach RSPCA animal welfare guidelines and legislated standards, but has criticised the union for the "commercial unreality" of its suggestions about the defensive measures the company might undertake.
In another test of public-private ventures, prison officers at the country's largest and newest correctional centre are considering striking after overwhelmingly rejecting what the CPSU called a "lowball" deal put forward by operator Serco Australia.
Major stevedore Patrick says it is facing costly delays at its Sydney and Fremantle container terminals as a result of continuing protected action by MUA members after a bargaining deadlock that it blames on the union failing to give ground on its recruitment veto.
In a novel use of the Corporations Act in an IR setting, logistics company DHL has secured an urgent interlocutory injunction to stop the UWU procuring alleged confidential information from about 60 shop stewards that might have given it a significant advantage in enterprise negotiations underway across the company's sites.
