Air-conditioning industry employers have continued to queue to be included in a pioneering private sector single-interest agreement cast by the AMWU as a response to "dodgy", low-paid contract work.
In a significant judgment on the statutory nature of a "proposed enterprise agreement", a Federal Court has rejected arguments that rail unions lost protection of their industrial action once the bargaining focus changed from a single to a multi-employer deal.
Ahead of a full bench hearing next month, the ACTU says the FWC should grant the SDA's landmark supported bargaining application because it meets the key "common interests" prerequisite, while McDonald's argues that its franchisees don't meet the criteria.
COSBOA is seeking the most significant change to the statutory exclusion from employment protections based on business size since Work Choices almost 20 years ago, while it also wants to broaden its reach to exempt small businesses from multi-employer bargaining, complying with casual conversion and delegates' rights obligations and restrictions on fixed-term contracts.
In a decision tackling an overlooked need to issue protected action ballot orders reflecting a shift to multi-employer bargaining at Sydney Trains and NSW Trains, the FWC has chastised the employers for seeking an additional technical step serving "no purpose" other than to bring about a delay.
A FWC full bench has approved a landmark multi-employer supported bargaining agreement covering more than 60 employers in the early childhood education and care sector, putting more than 12,000 employees in line for a 15% pay rise over two years.
Rail unions are urgently seeking renewed authorisation for festive season protected action at Sydney Trains and NSW Trains, after the Federal Court last night acceded to the employers' bid to temporarily declare unlawful bans to take effect this morning.
The FWC has issued a single interest employer authorisation for two regional Victorian councils, in the first full bench ruling to weigh whether it is barred from approving multi-employer negotiations when a union and an employer party have allegedly agreed in writing to bargain for a proposed single-enterprise agreement.
With "limited take-up" of multi-employer bargaining since its inception last year, a paper presented at the Australian Labour Law Association national conference in Geelong last week says some "technical" amendments would make it simpler and easier to authorise negotiations and make deals.
The public outcry about multi-employer bargaining during the passage of the Secure Jobs legislation was "massively overstated" in the light of the limited number of cases that have since emerged, but recent reforms might have revived single-enterprise bargaining, according to FWC President Adam Hatcher.
