An FWC full bench has refused to overturn the termination of the agreement for the Loy Yang power station and coal mine, after it accepted that the company's commitment to extend employment protections to three years compensated for an error in the initial tribunal ruling.
The tone around deadlocked negotiations over a new agreement at Parmalat's Echuca processing plant has shifted dramatically over the past 24 hours, both sides believing a resolution is near after agreeing to divide up and rework contentious clauses before reconvening early next week.
The CFMEU's mining and energy division has flagged that its members will take protected industrial action at Victoria's Loy Yang power station within the next month.
The FWC has suspended the entry permit of a CFMEU official who behaved in an "aggressive and threatening manner" when he told a project manager at a construction site he wanted to "smash" someone.
Stevedore Patrick says it will put its "final offer" direct to workers at its four container terminals, while warning that an employee lockout is possible if the bargaining deadlock continues.
Esso Australia has locked out 200 maintenance workers at its Bass Strait oil and gas operations, in response to rolling stoppages by AMWU and ETU members.
The Australian Shipowners Association has told the Productivity Commission that it is important to understand that the starting point for the bargaining changes it is seeking is the "disproportionate industrial power" wielded by the maritime unions.
The licenced aircraft engineers' union is urging the "liberalisation" of union coverage rules, saying that if they didn't exist at all, the industrial unrest that fuelled the bargaining battle between the union and Qantas might have been diminished before the airline dramatically shut down its operations and locked out its workforce in 2011.
The head of Networks NSW, which owns the power "poles and wires" entities that are to be privatised if the Coalition wins Saturday's NSW election, is pushing for FWC approval of agreements to be conditional on them undergoing an objective "productivity test" and is backing calls for the creation of a separate FWC appeals jurisdiction.
