After a hard-fought battle, a mining union has today won an authorisation to negotiate a multi-employer agreement with three underground black coal mines operated by major resource companies Peabody, Ulan and Whitehaven, but Delta has escaped its clutches.
The FWC has upheld the summary dismissal of a forklift driver, after he left work to avoid a drug test, claiming that he had an "accident" in his trousers.
The ETU's refusal to acknowledge that power network operator Transgrid alone dictates when emergency work is required provided the FWC sufficient reason to extend orders preventing certain protected industrial action for a further two months, according to a senior member.
A Coles worker sacked for "interacting" with shoplifters in defiance of company policy has had her one-minute-late adverse action application binned, after the FWC rejected her bid to "pin" responsibility on the SDA, while at the same time affirming that the deadline is not a "mere technicality".
The FWC has accepted a casual worker's five-weeks-late unfair dismissal claim after finding that the employer gave him the impression that his employment would continue pending an investigation, and then ignored any further contact attempts.
Two recycling industry workers have been allowed to keep 30% of their redundancy payments after the FWC accepted that while their former employer found them acceptable alternative employment, it involved moving from a "nice, clean" office to a "dusty, malodorous" one.
Ahead of the October 26 State election, Queensland unions are set to launch a campaign today to lift the current public sector parental leave entitlement of 15 weeks to 18 weeks, plus an extra eight weeks for workers with five years service.
The PSA says it will "demand" the NSW IRC order a 5.2% minimum pay rise over 12 months plus super for thousands of public servants, after the tribunal recommended the Minns Government resolve salaries disputes by allowing it to arbitrate and potentially facilitate mutual gains bargaining under the State IR Act's new Chapter 2A provisions.
The SDA and UWU are jointly seeking same-job, same-pay orders at distribution giant Metcash that could lift the pay of on-hire warehouse workers by up to $12,700.
An on-hire underground mineworker placed at South32's Cannington silver, lead and zinc mine in Queensland is seeking same-job, same-pay orders to put him and his colleagues on the same footing as the resource giant's directly-engaged workers.