The ACTU is preparing to train affiliates to comply with the more stringent governance requirements under the Turnbull Government's rules for registered organisations, as the new regulator develops plans to increase awareness of protections for reprisals against whistleblowers - which extend to imprisonment.
Unions are seeking the reinstatement of powers to inspect non-members' time and wages records, after their analysis of 200 job advertisements aimed at Chinese, Korean and Spanish-speakers showed that almost four out of every five pay less than the award.
The HSU says it is unlikely to pursue former national secretary and ex-Labor MP Craig Thomson for the repayment of about $378,000 because it would incur further legal costs with little chance of recovering the money.
The prosecution has reworked its case against former HSU leader Kathy Jackson, who now faces 164 charges that mostly relate to alleged theft and fraud from her time as a union official.
As the CEPU seeks a judicial review of an ABCC decision to apply the new national building code to hundreds of SA power workers, it has flagged Australia-wide industrial unrest if other power companies seek to apply the code during EBA negotiations.
The CFMEU will stage a national day of protest next week as tensions rise in the construction industry over the coming deadline for having code-compliant agreements to avoid being barred from winning Commonwealth-funded contracts.
The new Registered Organisation Commission is investigating $125,000 in payouts to former officials of the CEPU's Tasmanian branch, Senate estimates have been told.
A full Federal Court has described as "astounding" a CFMEU argument that it should not be held liable for organisers' unauthorised entries to building sites because the alleged contraventions should be viewed as an exercise of "power", rather than of a "right" defined by the Fair Work Act.
