The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has quietly established a special unit that has multiple investigations afoot in the commercial construction industry.
The High Court will next Friday hear special leave applications from WorkSafe Victoria and a CFMEU official who are challenging a full Federal Court finding that he needed a federal entry permit to assist a health and safety representative when invited onto a construction site.
In a decision signalling potential judicial pushback against so-called "sham" agreements, a Federal Court has quashed a two-year-old deal approved by three employees that now covers more than 1000 mining services workers, ruling that the employer made inadequate efforts to explain a document benchmarked against 11 different awards.
In one of the first extended discussions about the capacity to include incidental matters in modern awards, the FWC has called for further submissions on how or whether to incorporate a standard clause that would permit employers to deduct up to five weeks pay when employees quit without giving sufficient notice.
The FWC has suspended a CFMEU divisional branch leader's entry permit for three months after he raised his hand in a "solidarity symbol" at a senior project manager.
Qube Logistics, Patrick Stevedores and the MUA have proposed a timetable for mediation early next year ahead of hearings in August into the companies' bid to recoup damages from bans on loading and unloading containers at Port Botany this year.
An independent investigator's report that was due today to determine whether Flight Attendants Association national division secretary Andrew Staniforth was to be immediately reinstalled has been delayed until next Wednesday.
The Federal Court has dismissed the nursing union's bid to stop Bupa cutting jobs, finding that 23 potential redundancies in a workforce of 3000 did not constitute a "major" change that would trigger an agreement's consultation clause.
