Glencore's Oaky North coal mine workers have voted to accept the same in-principle agreement that they rejected in January, with the CFMMEU crediting its successful FWC bid to pause a bitter seven-month lockout with creating the right environment to break the deadlock.
The FWO has again taken a bead on union behaviour, confirming today that it is investigating industrial action at the Oaky North mine in Queensland, where about 190 workers remain locked out after more than 200 days.
The ETU is urging politicians to attend a major rally next week in support of an illegal picket outside a Melbourne stevedore, which is ongoing despite courts orders for it to stop.
In the first test of whether Queensland's laws regulating peaceful assemblies can be used to block pickets and protests during industrial disputes, the state's Supreme Court has rejected mining company Glencore's argument that such activities can't be authorised.
The FWC's termination of industrial action in the Victorian electricity industry took into account that it could "almost immediately" affect generators that regularly meet more than half of the state's power supply.
The FWC has today acceded to the Victorian Government's application to terminate next week's protected industrial action at the AGL Loy Yang power station and coal mine in the Latrobe Valley.
The prospect of Qube Logistics and Patrick Stevedores pursuing the MUA over bans on loading and unloading containers at Port Botany remains alive despite the companies' failure to start proceedings during a Federal Court hearing this morning.
Carlton & United Breweries and the ETU in submissions to a Senate inquiry have provided conflicting accounts of last year's dispute over the use of labour hire employees at the company's Abbotsford brewery.
The NSW Public Service Association has defied a court order restraining it from organising its members to strike in protest at the State Government's plans to privatise disability support work and will now face substantial penalties in the Supreme Court.
Planned industrial action by more than 20,000 Centrelink employees has been postponed after FWC-guided discussions saw the Department of Human Services withdraw an s418 order to halt the strike on the basis it was a protest against its so-called "robo-debt" scheme rather than a legitimate bargaining manouevre.
