The FWC has rejected the United Firefighters Union's claim that its history of disputes with a government employer's IR advisor meant he could not impartially investigate serious misconduct allegations against a member.
The AWU and CFMEU have made "significant progress" in their long-standing demarcation disputes with the assistance of a former FWC member, while the FWC has protocols in place to prevent Commissioner Jennifer Hunt and Vice President Ingrid Asbury from attending the tribunal's Brisbane office at the same time, tribunal officers told a Senate Estimates hearing yesterday.
RTBU Victorian branch secretary Vik Sharma says the State union will come together "for the first time" as a united team after his supporters resoundingly defeated the incumbent tram and bus divisional leadership in a recent ballot.
Emma Kingdon, a former ACTU national campaigns director and CFMEU Administration executive officer, is set to replace Michele O'Neil as president of the ACTU.
In the wake of the review of the Queensland IR Act, the Crisafulli Government has introduced legislation that enables the IR minister to terminate industrial action if it serves the public interest, prohibits workers from taking industrial action during conciliation or arbitration, and creates a new "fit and proper person" test for union officials.
FWC President Adam Hatcher has sent the ASU back to the drawing board to precisely detail its case for further award-based pay rises for community and disability workers after receiving the union's latest "aspirational" pitch for increases of up to 35%.
Deregulate the establishment and administration of registered unions and "let the red unions rip through the industrial relations system" to restore Australia's productivity and wealth, Red Unions Support Hub managing director Jack McGuire told the recent HR Nicholls Society national conference.
Victoria's Parliament has passed legislation to establish a special prosecutor to assist the Kourakis Royal Commission into misconduct in the construction industry and expand IBAC's powers, but a Bill targeting unregistered unions has stalled in the upper house with no sitting days remaining before the election.
CFMEU construction and general division administrator Michael Crosby says in a report to Parliament that the union's culture is changing, but success "is not yet uniform" across the country and "serious regulation" is needed to stop bad actors rising again.
As unions pursue an intractable bargaining bid for BHP's Port Hedland iron ore export operations, the FWC will today hear the company's application for bargaining orders against the ETU, alleging it failed to negotiate in good faith.
