The CFMEU's mining and energy division has welcomed an FWC ruling not to allow the spread of casual workers in the black coal mining industry, vowing to resist future "attacks" on award conditions.
The Federal Court has expedited the union application to quash the Fair Work Commission's cuts to penalty rates, but a three-day hearing will nevertheless start no earlier than September 18.
The main protagonists have landed their last blows ahead of Sunday penalty rate cuts coming into effect this weekend, United Voice calling on restaurant and pub patrons to pressure bosses over whether they value their staff, while AiG insists that July 1's parallel "hefty" minimum wage rise not only sees workers better off, but saddles employers with bigger wage bills.
An employer who refused requests by police and an OHS inspector to allow two CFMEU officials onto her building site to investigate a Facebook-notified safety issue has avoided an $18,500 penalty because the union's notice of entry did not include the officials' middle names.
The ASU and TWU have won access to sensitive internal documents held by aviation ground handlers Aerocare, despite the company arguing that a large number of the unions' members worked for competitors who would benefit from any insight into the algorithms behind its rostering system.
The National Farmers' Federation will argue the FWO has misconstrued the horticulture award's piecework provisions in a Federal Court case it believes has the potential to remove much of the incentive to work across the entire sector.
A recruitment system tailored to retain "members for life" regardless of changing jobs or circumstances will help plug the union movement's "leaky bucket", ACTU secretary Sally McManus told today's NexGen2017 conference.
