The Federal Labor Opposition has confirmed it is at odds with key industry bodies in accepting the link between truck drivers' pay and conditions and road safety, but stopped short of committing to re-establishing the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT).
The Federal Court is conducting an inquiry into an Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation election that commenced before comprehensive rule changes could be finalised, leaving the union to contact about 80 newly elected councillors to tell them the result is invalid.
The CFMMEU has today challenged employer groups' standing to appeal the approval of its merger, arguing they are not sufficiently affected as they will be dealing with the same officials doing the same work to the same standards, only wearing different t-shirts.
In the lead-up to the AWU wielding its numbers at the ACTU Congress in July, the union has commissioned a "modern membership project" after the Registered Organisations Commission recommended that it undertake an external audit to correct historical discrepancies in its enrolments.
The TWU has been penalised more than $270,000 for failing to remove almost 21,000 unfinancial members from a state branch register over a 12-year period.
Requirements for bargaining representatives from this week to disclose financial benefits stemming from enterprise agreements before workers vote on them will make it easier to track the revenue the deals generate for unions, employers say.
The legislative tension between state and federal union rules has been highlighted after a tribunal dismissed an expelled official's bid for reinstatement on the basis that it lacked the jurisdiction to give orders or directions to a national body.
Employers opposing the merger of the CFMEU, MUA and TCFU have warned the FWC that the unions would use their combined might to cripple the resource and construction industries, but they argue that in any case more than 45 pending penalty proceedings should legally disqualify them from amalgamating.
An FWC full bench has refused the CEPU leave to appeal a ROC decision on financial reporting deadlines, holding that the "real purpose" of the union's case was to avoid potential penalties for failing to meet its statutory obligations.
