The Federal Court has ruled that two related door manufacturers who provided gift vouchers to non-striking workers did not take adverse action against workers who took protected industrial action in support of a new agreement.
In a rare instance of a court imposing the maximum penalty under the Fair Work Act, the CFMEU mining and energy division has been fined $33,000 for unlawfully implementing its overtime policy at BHP Coal's Peak Downs mine.
The Federal Court has issued a sweeping injunction to stop CFMEU construction and general division WA branch assistant secretary Joe McDonald from entering Brookfield Multiplex construction sites for nearly three years and ordered the union to pay the company $500,000 in compensation for strikes he incited at two major projects last year.
Flagging new strategies to give workers a collective voice, ACTU assistant secretary Tim Lyons has rejected recent calls for an "accommodation" with employers and told unions not to be afraid of conflict and controversy.
The MUA has been forced to call off protected industrial action in the offshore sector that was due to start today against Tidewater Marine, after the company secured a Federal Court injunction.
The Abbott Government has presented its first tranche of changes to the Fair Work Act to Parliament today, including proposals to free up greenfields impasses, expand the subject matter of IFAs, wind back the ALP's right of entry changes and require bargaining before protected action.
The MUA and AMMA are accusing each other of shifting the goalposts in the drawn-out bargaining round for vessel operators in the offshore oil and gas industry, with the union to begin a 48-hour stoppage at pacesetting Tidewater Marine on Friday.
The union covering Hunter Valley coal haulage drivers who are planning to strike next week is ignoring BHP Billiton threats of potential third party legal action and will instead today write to the mining giant to seek its support in resolving the dispute with rail operator Aurizon.
