The Mining and Energy Union is registered as a stand-alone entity from today, formalising its withdrawal from the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union.
The CFMMEU's mining and energy division has asked the Federal Court to establish a new standalone union from December 1, after 98% of members supported its separation from the wider union in a ballot that closed in June.
A full Federal Court has today rejected a bid by the CFMMEU's manufacturing division to overturn the FWC's decision to deny it a ballot of members to win approval to disamalgamate from the broader union.
Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard has unveiled a statue commemorating the landmark 1969 equal pay protest by trade union activist and feminist Zelda D'Aprano, who chained herself to the door of the Commonwealth building in Melbourne.
Long-serving MUA national secretary Paddy Crumlin is facing a rank-and-file challenger in the union's quadrennial elections, which will also have contested polls for State leadership positions in Queensland and Victoria.
The CFMMEU's mining energy division looks likely to be able to proceed with its plans to demerge from the broader union, after the parties reached a peace deal.
The increasing "wage premium" for union members underlines the importance of reforms such as multi-employer bargaining and going even further to prevent the disparity growing wider, according to a leading IR academic, who counterintuitively says the divergence is not a good development for employee organisations.
