As she prepares to step down after 12 years, the world's top union leader, former ACTU president Sharan Burrow, has hailed the Albanese Labor Government for moving swiftly to overhaul Australia's IR laws, including the planned introduction of multi-employer bargaining.
A FWC full bench will tomorrow consider whether to terminate or suspend tugboat operator Svitzer's planned indefinite national lockout on Friday, after the company told Vice President Adam Hatcher it is not prepared to delay it and does not believe conciliation will help.
Towage company Svitzer is set to lock out its harbour tugboat workforce, claiming it has been forced into it by continuing disruptive protected action by three maritime unions.
The High Court is poised to consider two significant IR matters next week, beginning with NSW unions' bid to overturn a State law restricting election campaign spending, followed by Qantas seeking special leave to challenge a finding that the airline unlawfully shunned a TWU in-house tender when it outsourced the work of 2000 ground-handlers.
Despite Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke's reluctance to hold back parts of the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill and its many "positive reforms", a leading labour law and IR academic says drafting issues and crossbench concerns will make fast passage a challenge.
The Albanese Government's first major tranche of IR legislation beefs-up workers' rights to secure flexible working arrangements and empowers the FWC to arbitrate if conciliation of a refused request fails.
Incoming CFMMEU construction and general division national secretary Zachary (Zach) Smith will take over from the long-serving Dave Noonan in April, after 15 years with the union and serving as leader and assistant leader of the ACT branch for the past three years.
John Holland's failure to identify the significance of a decision rejecting its earlier greenfields deal when applying to have an almost identical one approved "verged on misleading", a FWC full bench has held, quashing its approval while refusing to quietly do so "by consent".
The FWO has hit a new high in the cases it has taken to court, as it continues to target large corporates and adds universities to its priority list, according to the watchdog's annual report.
The RTBU says an "unprecedented" NSW Government court case claiming that deactivating Opal card readers at Sydney train stations is not protected action and seeking to recoup lost revenue will force it to revert to disruptive strikes, as the union files its own court action in response.
