An employer has been labelled "disingenuous" and a union told it could struggle to explain its interest to members in the "curious" case of employees not paid for work performed when they returned to their jobs before the end of a protected strike.
In a novel claim accusing the CFMMEU's maritime division of breaching intellectual property and consumer laws during negotiations for Manly Fast Ferry workers, the NRMA is suing the union for significant damages allegedly caused by using its logo in campaign material.
Stevedore DP World has opened up a new strategy for employers seeking to sideline industrial action, winning a ruling from the FWC that MUA bans on shift extensions were not protected because the employer never asked employees to work beyond their hours within 30 days.
About 1800 waterfront workers have today begun a campaign of rolling strikes at DP World container terminals across Australia this week, after the MUA and stevedore failed to reach agreement on a new enterprise deal.
The CPSU has failed in its bid to claw back allowances in full for border protection employees who went on a series of strikes over a three year period.
An FWC member gave due recognition to the reduction of employees' bargaining power that would flow from him acceding to a DP World bid to extend notice for CFMMEU industrial action from three to five days, according to reasons issued by a full Federal Court today.
In a significant decision on FWC practices, a Commission full bench has made a powerful case for members conciliating a matter to automatically step aside from arbitrating the dispute if a party objects to their continued involvement, obviating the need for recusal hearings.
A full Federal Court majority has today rejected a judge's reasoning for ordering the MUA to pay a fine of just $38,000 for a week-long unlawful strike at Hutchison Ports' Sydney and Brisbane container terminals, but has rebuffed the FWO's contention that the stevedore should have been awarded $600,000 in damages it didn't seek.
A full Federal Court has upheld a finding that agreement-sanctioned union stopwork meetings can be freely used to delay and disrupt business as part of a campaign strategy, but has increased fines for the CFMMEU's coercion of head contractor Hutchison by almost 30%.
The FWC has rejected as "pedantic and technical" an attempt by Telstra to block industrial action it claimed was inconsistent with that endorsed by CEPU members.
