NSW is yet to agree to refer its IR powers to Canberra, while WA is continuing to go its own way, following Friday’s meeting of state and federal IR ministers that also agreed to release the draft uniform OHS laws for public comment. Meanwhile, Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard has endorsed the AIRC's new draft restaurant industry modern award.
A Fair Work Australia full bench yesterday reserved its decision on a bid by offshore oil and gas logistics company Total Marine Services to have the tribunal impose a higher threshold for granting protected action ballots.
The model transitional provisions in many modern awards could pose a major administrative challenge for some employers, according to Adelaide University Professor of Law, Andrew Stewart.
A Queensland refinery will be able to "in-source" its maintenance workforce free from their existing enterprise agreement, after Fair Work Australia for the first time approved an employer bid for an exemption from the Fair Work Act's new transfer of business provisions.
Complex transitional arrangements for redundancy and modern award pay rates will create difficulties for some employers in moving to the Fair Work safety net next year, according to University of Adelaide law professor Andrew Stewart.
The AIRC has granted the AMWU's application for a protected ballot of employees at a Heinz factory in Victoria, where, like at Campbell's last week, the individual flexibility clause to be included in the agreement for the site is one of the issues in dispute.
Fair Work Australia has rejected a LHMU bid for a scope order to cover Coca-Cola Amatil's operations in South Australia, ruling that such applications can only be approved if they strictly comply with statutory prerequisites.
Fair Work Australia has rejected a bid by an oil and gas industry labour and logistics provider for good faith orders to force the MUA to provide further written details of its bargaining claim.
AMWU members have voted to seek a protected action ballot at Ford Australia, after failing to win agreement on a pay rise despite months of negotiations that the union readily concedes have been conducted in good faith.
The AMWU is seeking an urgent interlocutory injunction to reinstate a delegate it alleges was sacked because of his union role, in what might be the first use of the injunctive relief provisions for "adverse action" under the Fair Work Act.
