Mining unions have applied to the FWC for a majority support determination to force Rio Tinto to the bargaining table with workers at its Paraburdoo iron ore operations, while an IR researcher says in a forthcoming book that Pilbara workers' ambitious demands at the height of union power more than four decades ago can provide lessons for unions today.
The number of workers covered by agreements has risen by 36.5% over the past three years, according to the latest triennial FWC general manager's report, while applications to deal with bargaining disputes rose 73.5% over the same period.
In a novel move, unions are seeking to bring forward by 14 weeks the end of the strike-suspending s425 order won by NSW rail employers, arguing that it has failed to achieve its stated purpose of bridging the differences between parties, who they claim have moved further apart during FWC-supervised talks.
The UFU's Victorian branch is set to be referred to the AFP after a FWC full bench ran out of patience with the union over its refusal to explain how it came to charge a reputed members' income protection scheme $480,000 in "promotion/management costs".
More working days lost, as PABOs burgeon; Super Retail suppression orders upheld; Most rapid membership growth in youngest workers: ACTU; and NSW IRC seminar on awards.
The ASU says lawyers at Maurice Blackburn are pressing ahead with a ban on recording billable hours today despite being stood down, while members are "outraged" at its continuing refusal to provide more than four days reproductive leave despite publicly campaigning for ten.
The UWU has defeated a federal government attempt to end strikes by Serco employees running immigration detention centres, after the FWC found it not unusual for detainees to climb on roofs, set off fire alarms or endure brief lockdowns, as occurred during the industrial action.
The ETU has lodged an urgent Federal Court bid to challenge FWC orders that suspended industrial action across Sydney's trains network until July, arguing a full bench wrongly treated rail unions as an "undifferentiated whole" and unreasonably advantaged the employers.
Trickle of FWC disputes over RtD; Lattouf leads court's livestream top 40; Victorian police bargaining dispute over after deal voted up; MUA loses appeal in "voluntary" work case.
A FWC full bench says it suspended industrial action afflicting Sydney's rail network partly to give the RTBU's leadership a chance to "re-establish a greater degree of control" amid suggestions some workers have been going rogue in pushing for a more radical approach.
