NSW unions have launched a High Court challenge to new state electoral funding laws that they allege were crafted to criminalise the trade union movement's core operating method and silence working people's dissenting political voices.
An Australia Post employee has failed in a Federal Court bid to win reinstatement after his summary dismissal for acting as a paid industrial advocate for his colleagues.
A lower court has asked the Federal Court to distinguish between "jurisdiction" and "powers" after wrestling with the question in a case where a union accused an employer of breaching its enterprise agreement and the employer counter-claimed that the agreement was not genuinely agreed.
Hardline employer-clientele law firm Seyfarth Shaw developed an aggressive bargaining strategy for Victoria's Country Fire Authority that aimed to replace a culture of UFU "veto and control" with "consultation and influence", documents published by the Senate reveal.
Unions say they are closely watching former Greens leader Bob Brown's High Court challenge to Tasmania's anti-protest laws, which has seen the federal and four state governments – three of them Labor – lining up to defend the legislation.
A full Federal Court has upheld the Australian Defence Force's right to sack an outspoken army reservist over his "extreme" and "wholly unacceptable" social media comments about Islam and a transgender colleague.
A top-tier law firm sought to block the Fair Work Commission from hearing a general protections involving a dismissal application from a former partner, arguing that his partnership was terminated rather than his employment.
The UFU's proposed High Court bid to overturn the CFA legislation is "misconceived and likely to fail", according to Employment Minister Michaelia Cash, who is confident the new law will survive any challenge.
The Federal Government has told the High Court that the Queensland Government's argument against a union challenge to legislation removing Queensland Rail workers from the federal IR system would thwart the operation of the Constitution's corporations power.
A Fair Work Commission full bench has ruled that Fair Work Act provisions requiring state governments to consult with unions over proposed redundancies are unconstitutional, rejecting the AWU's attempt to distinguish a similar High Court finding.
