The ETU's hard-fought campaigns for new deals with two NSW electricity suppliers have moved closer to FWC-arbitrated resolutions after the union and Endeavour Energy received a fortnight to hammer out their differences and state secretary Allen Hicks expressed hope that a Commission full bench would make an intractable bargaining determination for Transgrid "by early next year".
The head contractor on Queensland's largest infrastructure project has failed to win FWC orders to compel hundreds of subcontractors to cross CFMEU picket lines, with the tribunal finding their no-shows did not amount to unprotected action.
FWC President Adam Hatcher has refused to stay an order compelling the UFU to hand over a trust deed for an income protection scheme that Fire Rescue Victoria claims might expose it to a $7 million annual fringe benefits tax liability.
A full Federal Court has found Qube Ports lacked standing to retrospectively vary expired agreements, clearing the way for the CFMEU's maritime division to pursue the stevedoring giant for millions in allegedly wrongly-deducted "gap" payments from up to 1000 wharfies' remuneration.
NSW PSA members have voted to accept a 10% pay rise over three years plus a 1% super boost in what State Treasurer Daniel Mookhey says is "proof that a mature government" can negotiate a deal that's good for both taxpayers and workers.
The FWC has taken the unusual step of allowing an employer's HR manager on behalf of workers to sign off on an agreement not backed by the CFMEU's construction division, after accepting evidence that employees were "reluctant" to put their names to the deal.
The majority privately-owned operator of NSW's high-voltage electricity network and unions have until next Monday to agree on terms for a new agreement before handing matters over to a FWC full bench to resolve any outstanding issues via an intractable bargaining determination.
A FWC full bench comprising the tribunal's three most senior members has issued a same-job, same-pay order sought by an individual on-hire mineworker placed at South32's Cannington silver, lead and zinc mine in Queensland who claimed it would lift his pay and that of hundreds of co-workers by 60%.
The FWC has terminated, at the request of CFMEU divisional leader Zach Smith, a Victorian construction deal signed-off by a company director convicted but later acquitted of a "gangland" murder.
A labour supplier has failed to win approval of a deal for casual black-coal mineworkers after making "misleading" claims of higher pay rises and telling the FWC they should be treated as "award free" when applying the BOOT.
