The ACTU says a High Court decision that makes it harder for unions to take protected industrial action has made Australia's workplace laws "much more oppressive" at a time when strikes are already at record lows.
The High Court has today upheld an appeal by Esso Australia against a finding that industrial action taken by the AWU in 2015 was protected, in a decision that leaves the way open for a substantial damages claim against the union.
The operator of a new highly-automated container terminal in Melbourne has this afternoon won a seven-day interim injunction to stop an apparently "extremely effective" picket that has stopped trucks entering and leaving the Webb Dock site since early this week.
The NSW Court of Appeal has reserved judgment on the PSA's challenge to a record $84,000 fine for contravening court orders and pressing ahead with a Valentine's Day strike in protest at the State Government's plans to privatise disability support work.
The FWC has granted an employer legal representation for its jurisdictional objections to a rostering dispute lodged by a self-represented employee who alleges in another case that he was sacked after challenging a proposed enterprise agreement.
The Fair Work Commission has ordered Glencore subsididary Oaky Creek Coal to stop conducting surveillance of locked-out employees of its Oaky North underground coal mine in Queensland.
The FWC has found it has no basis to suspend industrial action by CEPU members at the Australian Submarine Corporation, because a campaign of 162 half-hour stopworks is yet to begin, but has warned it would be likely to issue orders to provide for an agreement ballot in a strike-free environment if circumstances change.
An FWC full bench has upheld a decision that found workers should be paid for unworked overtime hours under an inclement weather provision that applies to enterprise agreements across the Icthys LNG project near Darwin.
The High Court has this morning refused a CFMEU bid for special leave to challenge a full Federal Court majority ruling that increased penalties twelve-fold after after accepting that it could not treat a "lawful request" or a party's motivation for taking coercive industrial action as a mitigating factor when determining fines.
