A court has penalised an early learning centre that refused on the basis of an alleged threat to its workers' "health and wellbeing" to allow a union organiser use its staff room to hold discussions, directing her instead to a storage room.
A senior FWC member has rebutted ABCC arguments that entry permit holders should not be "rewarded" for exercising their rights without incident, observing in the course of a renewal application that such behaviour simply be accorded "appropriate weight" when applying the 'fit and proper person' test.
An FWC full bench has rejected MUA Sydney branch secretary Paul McAleer's appeal against being denied an entry permit, finding a tribunal member held no obligation to signal that the official might have his rights withdrawn after 12 years due to a history of industrial law breaches.
The ABCC, in opposing entry permits for CFMMEU maritime division leaders, is relying on the view that they fall within its jurisdiction because they are officials of a "building association".
A full Federal Court has largely dismissed the CFMMEU's broad-ranging appeal against more than $300,000 in fines imposed for attempting to force a contractor into signing a union-approved deal, agreeing only that publication orders served no purpose and that too much was made of an "eenie meenie miney mo!" text message.
The FWC has taken the rare step of revoking the entry permit of a CFMMEU official who aggressively swore at a subcontractor at a road construction site before asking if he was going to use the hammer he was carrying "to smash me".
The FWC has rebuked a union organiser for his "frankly inexplicable" failure to disclose in applying for a new right of entry permit that he had conditions imposed on previous ones.
In a significant ruling on how Fair Work Act breaches are to be assessed, a Federal Court full bench has invoked double jeopardy principles to strip $48,000 off penalties awarded against the CFMMEU and one of its organisers.
The FWC has refused to renew MUA Sydney branch secretary Paul McAleer's entry permit, ruling that he has "repeatedly preferred the interests of his union and/or its members over compliance with industrial laws."
The Federal Court has closed a loophole under which union organisers maintained they could enter sites to discuss safety issues under state OHS laws without showing their federal entry permits.
