BHP Billiton has nominated the Coalition's right of entry and greenfields amendments, stalled in the Senate, as its first priorities for IR change, telling the Productivity Commission it also wants restrictions on agreement content, faster relief from industrial action and a wound-back adverse action regime.
The FWC has refused to issue a new entry permit to an AMWU organiser who engaged in "egregious" conduct during the notorious Westgate Bridge dispute in 2009, and has described as "baffling" a 2011 decision to grant him a permit.
A FWC full bench has overturned the suspension of 12 CFMEU officials' entry permits, finding that the original sanctions were not linked to the resolution of an ongoing right of entry dispute but appeared to be punishment for past bad behaviour.
The Federal Court has thrown out a challenge by Victorian HSU leaders to the Fair Work Commission's inquiry into allegations that the union rorted the right of entry permit system.
The Fair Work Commission adjourned its inquiry into HSU Victorian No 1 branch entry permit applications this morning after branch general manager Kimberley Kitching indicated she would seek an urgent Federal Court order to compel the tribunal to rule on her argument that it has no jurisdiction to conduct the review.
The Federal Court has fined the CFMEU's construction and general division and five of its officials more than $150,000 for contravening right of entry laws, prompting FWBC director Nigel Hadgkiss to state that entry permits are a "privilege", and not a licence to act unlawfully.
A Fair Work Commission full bench has upheld a decision to refuse a Queensland building union official an entry permit, while a senior member has stayed the suspension of permits for 12 other officers.
In a wide-ranging judgment on federal right of entry laws, a senior FWC member has ruled that parties need to pay more than "lip service" to the requirement to agree on meeting rooms for union discussions with workers, and has warned a CFMEU employee that he needs to take "stock of his conduct".
The Fair Work Commission has granted right of entry permits to a union branch secretary who initially failed to disclose that his previous one had been suspended for three months after an altercation with a union member, and to an organiser who visited 90 sites after his last permit expired.
FWBC has launched Federal Court proceedings against CFMEU construction division national president David Hanna over an alleged breach of right of entry laws.
