The Federal Court has for the second time this month found that government-owned Airservices Australia failed to meet agreement obligations to consult over changes affecting air traffic controllers, despite its "valiant" attempt to distinguish between 'policies' and 'procedures'.
A senior FWC member has after highlighting the tribunal's significant efforts to aid compliance with agreement approval requirements thrown out an application made by an employer that thrice failed to give "intelligible" undertakings.
A FWC member has sailed past a union lawyer's caution not to interfere in the wording of a proposed strike ballot, finding that an "ambiguous" question should be deleted to avoid perplexing employees voting on it.
The FWC has rejected the CFMMEU's attempt to intervene in the approval of a two-worker deal it had no history of involvement in, dismissing concerns that the agreement was as part of a corporate "ruse" designed to cover employees of the business's far larger parent company.
The FWC has called out a union bargaining representative for his "unexplained" change of heart about in-person voting for a new deal occurring during a COVID-19 lockdown, noting that his opposition only surfaced after the non-appearance of two holidaying workers helped it get up by a slim margin.
Employers once said to be facing up to $38 billion in casuals' backpay claims have welcomed today's High Court confirmation that contracts are decisive in determining employment types, while workers' representatives have come out swinging.
The High Court has today unanimously upheld labour hire company Workpac's challenge to a finding that coal mineworker Robert Rossato was entitled to paid leave while engaged as a casual on consecutive contracts for almost four years.
The FWC has blocked a large employer's bid to move workers on to higher-paid staff roles as part of a restructure, telling the company the decision will "increase [its] cost benefits".
A FWC full bench has after granting the MUA permission to test the boundaries of what constitutes a "waterside worker" ultimately rejected its bid to revive an application for a majority support determination for control room operators at a liquefied gas storage facility.
