One of the nation's largest abattoirs has failed to convince the FWC that unions should not distribute written materials when using right of entry permits for "discussions", after its HR manager tried to stop the AMIEU from giving workers a newsletter on a judgement regarding their agreement.
FWBC director Nigel Hadgkiss has confirmed that 21 of the 53 matters it currently has before the courts concern right of entry breaches, and the issue is at the centre of a further 19 investigations.
An employer's insistence that a union organiser conduct meetings with members at a remote construction site in a non-airconditioned shipping container that reached temperatures of 50 degrees celsius did not excuse his abusive response, the Federal Court has ruled.
The FWC has accepted the legitimacy of a Baiada policy that bans NUW officials, when exercising their entry rights to hold discussions with employees, from carrying mobiles and tablets that are capable of taking photos or video on its sites, but has re-listed the matter to consider "alternative solutions".
A CFMEU organiser who threatened to "go to war" with a sub-contractor on the Royal Adelaide Hospital project was in contempt of an order banning him from the site, the Federal Court has ruled.
The Australian Shipowners Association has told the Productivity Commission that it is important to understand that the starting point for the bargaining changes it is seeking is the "disproportionate industrial power" wielded by the maritime unions.
MUA WA branch official Will Tracey could seek a fresh entry permit, after a full Federal Court made it clear that the Fair Work Commission can exercise its discretion to issue him a conditional permit even though he failed the "fit and proper person" test.
The FWC has issued a new, unconditional entry permit to the CFMEU construction and general division's Queensland leader, rejecting the building watchdog's argument that it should be withheld because of union conduct that has attracted more than $900,000 in fines during his eight years as "ringmaster".
In a wide-ranging judgment on federal right of entry laws, a senior FWC member has ruled that parties need to pay more than "lip service" to the requirement to agree on meeting rooms for union discussions with workers, and has warned a CFMEU employee that he needs to take "stock of his conduct".
A Fair Work Commission full bench has clarified the circumstances in which the tribunal can use its own-motion powers to impose restrictions on unions that have abused their entry rights.
