A full Federal Court has today rejected a bid by the CFMMEU's manufacturing division to overturn the FWC's decision to deny it a ballot of members to win approval to disamalgamate from the broader union.
The meatworkers union has confirmed it is in tentative talks with the AMWU about a potential merger to boost member representation and provide "a larger voice".
A FWC full bench has clarified that divisions seeking to demerge from unions under legislation introduced in 2020 cannot rely on allegations of past mismanagement, because consideration of such cases is limited to "forward looking" assessments of their capacity to represent members.
The CFMMEU's mining energy division looks likely to be able to proceed with its plans to demerge from the broader union, after the parties reached a peace deal.
The FWC says a proposed amalgamation of the Australian Hotels Association and the Accommodation Association of Australia will give the latter a "strong voice" within the merged employer body and held that only its members will have to vote on it in a ballot opening next month.
The FWC has given the CFMMEU's legal team access to the mining and energy division's membership roll ahead of a hearing into its demerger bid, after the amalgamated union argued it owns the division's records and rejected suggestions its in-house lawyers might misuse the information.
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.
The CFMMEU's Mining & Energy division has today in echoes of the ABCC kicked off its new bid to break away from the parent mega-union by tendering evidence that the Construction & General division has breached workplace or safety laws 227 times since 1999.
