The FWC is running a trial until the end of the year of holding conferences and hearings on Thursday nights and Saturdays, with priority to be given to matters involving small businesses.
The FWC has found a vessel operator's decision to sack an experienced captain for breaching its zero-tolerance alcohol policy was harsh in the circumstances, arguing that it bore some responsibility for unresolved matters that affected his mental health and could have imposed less punitive penalties.
The CFMEU's mining and energy division has welcomed an FWC ruling not to allow the spread of casual workers in the black coal mining industry, vowing to resist future "attacks" on award conditions.
As union members protest outside the FWC in Perth today against Murdoch University's application to terminate its 2014 enterprise agreement, the tribunal is expected to rule on the employer's bid to have the case heard behind closed doors.
The main protagonists have landed their last blows ahead of Sunday penalty rate cuts coming into effect this weekend, United Voice calling on restaurant and pub patrons to pressure bosses over whether they value their staff, while AiG insists that July 1's parallel "hefty" minimum wage rise not only sees workers better off, but saddles employers with bigger wage bills.
The ASU and TWU have won access to sensitive internal documents held by aviation ground handlers Aerocare, despite the company arguing that a large number of the unions' members worked for competitors who would benefit from any insight into the algorithms behind its rostering system.
Deputy President Val Gostencnik has published the reasons behind his recent decision to overlook a "general rule" applied to the granting of entry permits, maintaining that it "bears all the hallmarks of arbitrariness" and has no regard to the individual circumstances and experience of applicants.
United Voice has launched its Federal Court challenge to the FWC's decision to cut Sunday penalty rates, arguing that the Commission "misconceived" its obligation to uphold workers' living standards.
