Sacked CFMEU construction division officials have told the High Court their constitutional challenge to Federal Government legislation placing union branches under administration is a stark reminder that "you cannot do indirectly what you are forbidden to do directly".
An AMWU delegate sacked for allegedly outing non-union co-workers has been awarded the maximum available compensation after the FWC expressed surprise that his multinational employer's investigation could have been conducted "so badly".
FWC President Adam Hatcher has followed up his recent promise of "genuine engagement" with road transport employers sweating on the TWU's minimum-standards test cases for gig workers and "last-mile" deliveries by asking the Road Transport Advisory Group for more details on consultation timeframes, who it might include in subcommittees and how it "proposes to conduct itself more generally".
The FWC is set to convene an initial hearing next week into the CFMEU manufacturing division's application to demerge, using legislative provisions passed in July that gained new urgency after then construction division leader John Setka's threats to derail Australian Football League projects.
The WA IRC has made interim orders removing the recently reappointed leader of the ANMF's West Australian branch, Mark Olson, paving the way for the union council member who launched the challenge to take over his post.
Under-fire HSU branch leader Diana Asmar has been ordered not to use union funds to cover the costs of defending FWC allegations that she received "cashbacks" and unwarranted reimbursements, while also being directed to provide undertakings not to initiate any further reprisals against three officials who maintain that the branch no longer operates effectively.
A court has ordered long-serving Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association secretary Steve Purvinas to pay indemnity costs - expected to reach six figures - for his vexatious rules case that sought to wreak havoc against union executive members and embarrass and harass them.
FWC general manager Murray Furlong has accepted an enforceable undertaking from the TWU after a whistleblower exposed the Victorian branch's practice of retaining resigned members on its register for up to three years, rather than the 28 days allowed under the Registered Organisations Act.
The HSU will today lodge a Federal Court bid to place its Victorian No 1 branch into administration, as embattled branch secretary Diana Asmar resists calls to stand down and seeks to turn the heat back on the union's national executive in another case heading to court tomorrow.
The High Court has today agreed to hear in November the challenge by sacked CFMEU construction division officials to the Albanese Government putting it in the hands of an administrator.
