The UWU has won a protected action ballot order despite an employer's intention to unilaterally put a proposed deal to a vote, and its insistence that the bargaining parties already agreed to it in-principle.
Industrial action has ceased at hydrocarbons producer Inpex after it reached an in-principle agreement with the Offshore Alliance containing what the unions claim are "great" pay rises they claim will set the standard for negotiations underway for a new Shell Prelude agreement, while they have credited the FWC's interest-based bargaining efforts with hastening a resolution.
The FWC has refused to halt Inpex employees' industrial action, finding that the $15 to $22 million daily cost of a shutdown would not significantly damage the economy, or risk the safety of the Northern Territory population.
NT Corrections has for the third time failed to halt prison officer strikes, with the FWC finding that the industrial action is protected and the UWU has complied with its assurances that it would protect the safety of prisoners.
Unions have today sought authorisation to strike at BHP's iron ore export operations at Port Hedland, after claiming to have been "stonewalled" during bargaining for new deals.
A labour law academic says a UN World Court finding that workers' right to strike is protected might revive ILO scrutiny of the extent to which the Fair Work Act "over-restricts" protected action, while a lawyer says it might "change the trajectory" of IR litigation and reform.
As thousands of early childhood education and care workers prepare to walk out over feared pay cuts of between 4% and 15% when their taxpayer-funded retention scheme expires in November, the federal minister responsible is declining to provide certainty on the government's future intentions.
Queensland Rail says "the public has lost" after it and the Crisafulli Government again failed to stop industrial action hitting trains through to the end of June, despite the FWC accepting it will affect this weekend's NRL Magic Round and might pose safety risks.
Queensland's Crisafulli Government is again seeking FWC intervention to stop industrial action affecting the rail network, ahead of the State hosting the NRL Magic Round and the tribunal kicking off a series of intensive negotiations this week.
In a case testing the extent to which employers can withhold pay during protected industrial action, the Federal Court today conducted a hearing into the AWU's claim that Chevron unlawfully deducted loading and allowances from workers during stoppages at its WA facilities.
