The FWC has upheld a coal mining company's right to stop accrual of annual leave for employees when they take industrial action or are locked out, in a decision with potential implications for the wider industry.
Mining giant Peabody has shelved plans for a third lockout of workers at its Wambo Coal Handling Preparation Plant after the MEU launched a legal challenge to the company's right to take the industrial action.
Long haul Qantas pilots are about to vote on whether to back protected action for the first time since the airline grounded its fleet and locked out workers in 2011, as they seek improvements to a rejected offer and the Flying Kangaroo prepares to roll out its crucial Project Sunrise non-stop flights.
Peabody says it has called off a lockout of workers at the United Wambo Washery but the MEU claims it is effectively continuing as the company has told members it cannot accept their work if they continue to ban certain tasks.
The Mining and Energy Union says a two-week lockout of Peabody workers at the United Wambo Washery is an "extraordinary response" given how close they are to reaching an agreement.
The ETU has failed to halt a lockout it claimed a company unlawfully initiated in response to safety inspections at a major NSW workshop, with the FWC finding the employer gave ample warning it would close the gates if workers went on strike.
The FWC has ordered lift manufacturer Schindler to end an unlawful lockout of more than 200 workers, holding that alerting union delegates to impending "employer response action" did not satisfy a requirement to notify bargaining representatives.
The ACTU has renewed its call to remove or curb employers' ability to lock out their workforces, after a multinational mining company extended to almost three weeks its freeze on mineworkers returning to the job at an Illawarra coal pit.
The MEU says its members at a Peabody underground coal mine near Wollongong have been "blindsided" by the company's week-long lockout of 160 mineworkers, saying it is a disproportionate response to limited protected action.
ACTU president Michele O'Neil has accused Nippon Paper's Opal subsidiary of abusing its power by locking out about 300 workers from a Latrobe Valley mill for three weeks and counting, after seven CFMEU members took six hours of protected action.
