A former Melbourne fruit market owner and his company have been hit with record penalties of more than $660,000 after "arrogantly" ignoring FWO warnings about underpaying a vulnerable Afghan refugee.
Australia must "redress the imbalance in bargaining power" held by workers and unions to reduce economic inequality, according to Federal Opposition workplace spokesperson, Brendan O'Connor.
An FWC full bench has quashed an agreement struck with five Sigma Healthcare recruits, finding the NUW had been denied natural justice when the pharmaceuticals giant failed to provide it with its application for approval on the basis that the union had ceased to be a bargaining representative.
An FWC full bench has reserved its decision on an SDA application to include paid blood donor leave in five awards, after employers argued the entitlement has no place in the modern awards system and should be left for enterprise bargaining.
The FWC today gave a strong signal that it is anxious to bring to a head Coles employee Penny Vickers' bid to terminate the supermarket giant's enterprise agreement, acknowledging criticism that the case had dragged on before granting the night-fill worker an extension to supply supporting documents.
The Independent Education Union is urging NSW and ACT Catholic school teachers to endorse rolling stop-work action after it negotiated a "pretty good" agreement that nevertheless contained no guaranteed access to arbitration.
The FAAA says it is delighted with a new deal endorsed by more than 90% of voting Qantas international flight attendants, but the TWU has slammed it for perpetuating a two-tiered system that pays some cabin crew less than half the money for performing the same work.
A lower court has asked the Federal Court to distinguish between "jurisdiction" and "powers" after wrestling with the question in a case where a union accused an employer of breaching its enterprise agreement and the employer counter-claimed that the agreement was not genuinely agreed.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a worker for pressuring a colleague to join the AMWU after a "balanced and meticulous" external investigation found his actions amounted to bullying.
The FWC has ruled that a major alpine resort did not dismiss a ski patrol team member who had a "long history" of "discontent" with the workplace when it sent him an email last year notifying him that he wouldn't be re-employed this winter.
