Now that the Morrison Government has decided to extend the maximum terms of greenfields agreements for major projects, employers say the principle should apply more widely to non-greenfields agreements covering subcontractors on such jobs.
In a decision traversing some of the challenges of protecting hard-won conditions in a difficult commercial environment, the CFMMEU has failed to block the termination of a construction deal no longer covering any workers after the company argued its uncompetitive terms and conditions hampered its ability to win new contracts.
An FWC full bench has clarified when non-bargaining representatives opposing agreement approvals have a right to be heard, clearing the way for the CFMMEU to test whether a wrongly-declared representative is incapable of being covered by a deal.
Three unions have won court approval to argue that the IR manager of a major service provider should be held accessorially liable for alleged underpayment of workers at Esso's onshore and offshore Bass Strait sites.
An FWC full bench has quashed a deal after accepting CFMMEU submissions that it would have allowed workers to be covered by future agreements ahead of its nominal expiry date, but has stopped short of finding that the tribunal should have heard from the union at first instance.
The ETU says a $40,000 penalty against an employer for failing to consult before engaging labour hire workers on inferior pay and conditions sends a message that pre-Building Code job security clauses in agreements are still enforceable.
An FWC full bench has made a significant decision on what constitutes new activity when making greenfields agreements, after the CFMMEU described the deal as a "a cynical, industrially incorrigible and flawed attempt to bypass bargaining with its employees and their union of choice".
The Fair Work Commission is missing its internal deadlines for approving enterprise agreements as it copes with an increasing number of complex deals that might need undertakings.
An FWC full bench has reserved its decision in a case that looms as a significant test of what constitutes a new activity for the purposes of making a greenfields agreement.
