Employer denied natural justice over late agreement: Bench; FWC upholds Coles' harassment sacking; Victorian gig economy inquiry extends submission deadline; and half million dollar safety fine for Patrick over threats to workers.
A near five-year-old bargaining dispute involving Esso Australia's Bass Strait offshore oil and gas workers has "no immediate prospect" of being resolved, the FWC has heard.
RAFFWU has not given up on its push for a $1 billion backpay claim for Woolworths workers, lodging an appeal this week against the retailer's new national agreement, while the FWC says a successful bid by rival retail union the SDA to axe 30 nominally expired Pizza Hut deals will have an "overwhelmingly positive" effect.
A Queensland professional association that markets itself as a cheaper, apolitical alternative to unions is calling on the FWC to force a major employer to seat it at the same table during bargaining meetings, ahead of its planned expansion by the end of the year.
The FWC has issued majority support determinations requiring two major engineering companies to bargain with CEPU members on the Ichthys LNG project, despite the employers' protests that work will be complete before any agreement could be reached.
The failure of a construction company's HR team to adequately explain two proposed "baseline agreements" or provide access to relevant awards has proven fatal to their approval, the FWC finding that other issues of non-compliance could have been dealt with by undertakings.
Thousands of retail and hospitality workers sitting on lower-paying "zombie" deals will revert to their respective awards from early March after the FWC terminated a 2007 agreement for Justin Hemmes' Merivale hospitality company and a 2011 Specialty Fashion Group deal.
The FWC earlier this month halted industrial action at BP's Kwinana oil refinery after it accepted that a shutdown of up to a fortnight would be the "unavoidable and inevitable consequence" of protected bans and limitations by AWU members.
An FWC full bench has issued guidance for the approval of enterprise agreements containing minor errors, finding that employers can give as little as four days' notice of voting and alter the text on template forms as long as workers are not disadvantaged.
The FWC has rejected a contentious MFB agreement because of terms that hinder workers shifting to part-time employment and permit the United Firefighters Union to block flexible working arrangements, but it has left the door open for the deal's approval with undertakings.
