Two of Australia's biggest unions are at loggerheads over a push by Woolworths to change the coverage of workers at the supermarket's online fulfilment centres, a move the UWU believes is partly motivated by the retailer's concerns about multi-employer bargaining.
A manager's email to a client suggesting a listed company might be overcharging almost $70,000 a month constituted a valid dismissal reason, as did sending a confidential document to a former employee even though it was discovered post-sacking, the FWC has held.
A new discussion paper to encourage debate and inform the FWC's drafting of a statement of principles on genuine agreement in bargaining asks for feedback on whether the Commission should take a prescriptive approach in response to the removal of detailed pre-approval obligations.
The FWC has confirmed that unions applying for a MSD can demonstrate support for bargaining by subsequently providing individual declarations from workers who did not initially cast a vote.
FWC Deputy President Bernadette O'Neill will oversee the new system of expert panels for pay equity and the care and community sector, the tribunal's acting president announced today.
The FWC has tentatively listed a March hearing to deal with a RAFFWU bid to axe Apple's 2014 agreement, which claims that reverting to the retail award will strengthen workers' conditions and bargaining position and accuses the $3 trillion company of treating permanent employees like casuals.
FWC general manager Murray Furlong has referred hospitality company Mantle Group's HR manager to the Australian Federal Police for possible criminal prosecution after the tribunal found he deliberately provided false or misleading information about a substandard agreement that allowed the employer to ask workers to perform voluntary additional hours without penalty rates.
The AWU has warned that Woodside's HR team faces a "learning curve" after the union yesterday won a hard-fought majority support determination forcing the energy giant to the negotiating table with its offshore platform employees for the first time in more than three decades.
