A senior FWC full bench has moved to clarify the confusion caused by conflicting decisions on whether unions that bargain for non-permitted matters are "genuinely trying to reach an agreement" under the Fair Work Act.
The Fair Work Commission has given the go-ahead for protected action ballots at Esso Australia's Victorian gas operations after unions dropped a claim to limit the use of contractors.
The Fair Work Commission will have to consider whether enterprise agreements contain productivity improvements before it approves them, while unions face additional hurdles to protected action, under the Coalition's latest IR bill.
Tomorrow's planned four-hour stoppage by marine engineers at Port Hedland tug operator Teekay Shipping is off, after the company and AIMPE struck a deal that incorporates the landmark pay-for-leave buy-out accepted by the other two maritime unions, plus a compromise on earlier key stumbling blocks.
The Fair Work Commission has found that the United Firefighters Union is not bargaining in good faith in pressing Victoria's Country Fire Authority to agree to minimum staffing levels in enterprise bargaining negotiations, and has ordered the union to drop the claims.
The MUA has given notice of four consecutive 24-hour stoppages at the marine contractor Farstad from November 15, in the latest development in enterprise bargaining involving vessel operators servicing the offshore oil and gas sector.
The Fair Work Commission has granted a company's request for good faith bargaining orders to provide for separate negotiations over four agreements in one case, but has knocked back a union's application for orders in another after finding that the employer was entitled to take a "hard" position in discussions.
The Fair Work Commission says that excluding supervisor-level employees from enterprise agreements is normal practice, and that those seeking to be included via scope orders need to present strong evidence to win the day.
The Fair Work Commission has ordered the MUA not to push for "Australians first" job clauses that might breach anti-discrimination laws during the hotly-contested enterprise bargaining round in the offshore oil and gas services sector.
The MUA pushed ahead with a 24-hour strike at Tidewater Marine today, ahead of the broader dispute over bargaining in the offshore oil and gas service sector heading back to the Fair Work Commission.
