The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has revealed it is investigating "serious allegations" of cartel conduct in the ACT that have been aired in the Heydon Royal Commission, while police have charged a royal commission witness with perjury.
The ACCC won't pursue side-deeds under which the TWU agreed to "audit" transport giant Toll Holdings' major competitors and the company directed up to $150,000 a year to the union’s training company.
A leading silk has told a gathering of major employers that the federal government should adopt the Harper competition review's recommendation to outlaw agreement clauses that limit employers' use of contractors and labour hire employees.
A major employer-clientele law firm is predicting that unions will become more aggressive in their pursuit of wage and job security claims this year, and that employers will respond in kind by seeking to unilaterally end bargaining negotiations and turning to regulators like the ACCC.
Independent Contractors Australia has challenged an ACCC ruling allowing the TWU to collectively bargain on behalf of a group of owner drivers engaged by Toll.
Boral chief executive Mike Kane has told the Heydon Royal Commission that his company is contemplating new legal action against its competitors, customers and the CFMEU under competition law, labelling them as conspirators in a union campaign to deprive it of its Melbourne market share after it refused to cut off supplies to Grocon.
The Federal Court has ordered the CFMEU to stop blocking access to a major Sydney apartment project, pending the full hearing of the developer's claim that the union has breached secondary boycott laws.
