In an important ruling on the definition of industrial action, the Federal Court has held that the provision of sensitive information to the media by employees is not "protected" under the Fair Work Act and might leave them vulnerable to breach of contract and coercion claims.
A five-day strike at Mermaid Marine's Dampier supply base has emerged as a test of how employers and employees adapt to the winding down of major offshore resources construction projects.
The MUA has given notice of five consecutive 24-hour stoppages at the Dampier supply base operated by Mermaid Marine Australia, starting from Wednesday.
Adding campaign material to company correspondence, answering customer inquiries with automated messages about bargaining, and placing slogans on company cars are all valid forms of industrial action, the Fair Work Commission has ruled.
The Productivity Commission in a new report has repeated its call for governments to adopt Victorian-style procurement guidelines to regulate substandard IR conduct in the construction industry, but has warned they might need to be modified to avoid a clash with the Fair Work Act.
The Fair Work Commission has rejected stevedore DP World's bid for orders at its troubled Fremantle terminal, holding that while "the attributes of a cooperative and productive workforce may have been missing in the past", there was no evidence industrial action was taking place or planned.
The FWBC has included CFMEU construction and general division national secretary Dave Noonan in its fourth prosecution over the $1.2 billion Perth Children's Hospital project.
The Fair Work Commission's decision to temporarily halt a planned 48-hour strike at Tidewater Marine took into account that an MUA official was unavailable to give evidence in person to the tribunal.