A Chevron supply chain manager sacked after the discovery of explicit images on his mobile phone has denied any knowledge of them and accused it of retaliatory adverse action prompted by his workplace complaints.
In his first ruling on a CFMMEU matter since having his reins pulled by a five-member full Federal Court, Justice John Snaden has resisted "indulging" his doubts about the statutory basis for making the union liable for officials' breaches.
A Victorian County Court judge has held that former HSU official Kathy Jackson "selfishly" misused about $103,000 in union funds, but has handed down a wholly-suspended two-year jail sentence.
In a momentous ruling on unions' liability for officials' breaches, a full Federal Court has upheld a finding that the CFMMEU was "knowingly concerned" in organisers' refusal to show permits when entering a site to discuss safety issues.
The ACCC's landmark criminal cartel case against the CFMMEU and its construction and general division ACT branch secretary, Jason O'Mara, has been set down for a two-week committal hearing starting in mid-February, while the regulator has secured anti-price-fixing undertakings from roofing contractors it caught out on Facebook.
A court has today praised RAFFWU for its service of the national interest in pursuing a McDonald's franchisee and securing $82,000 in fines against if for sinister, cruel, coercive threats via Facebook posts to deny its predominantly young workforce drink and toilet breaks required under the fast food chain's agreement.
The Federal Court has doused the construction watchdog's pursuit of one of the CFMMEU's national leaders for allegedly organising an illegal strike, finding construction workers were entitled to pass more than two showery days in a "smoko shed" under the award's inclement weather provisions.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has made scant use of new powers it won three years ago to conduct compulsory interviews and to prosecute franchisors to help to protect vulnerable workers.
In a significant judgment closely examining the limits of "industrial activity", a full Federal Court led by Chief Justice James Allsop has overturned penalties imposed on two CFMMEU officials for leading a walk-out from a building site that had no separate toilet for a female worker.
