Victoria's police federation has lost a battle to secure overtime for officers working at the 2014 G20 leaders' summit in Brisbane after the FWC concluded they were not working in the six hours between checking out of their hotel and a bus arriving to take them to their homebound flights.
Unions say they are closely watching former Greens leader Bob Brown's High Court challenge to Tasmania's anti-protest laws, which has seen the federal and four state governments – three of them Labor – lining up to defend the legislation.
The TWU will oppose the approval of what it alleges is a substandard ground-handling agreement put forward by a company within the Emirates airlines group that offers workers 60 hours' work per month with no weekly guarantee.
A tribunal has awarded an actor and MEAA member $1,000 compensation for discrimination by a cinema that refused to sell her a movie ticket because she belonged to the union.
Employment Minister Michaelia Cash has imposed the first-ever sanction under the national construction code against a builder, temporarily prohibiting J Hutchinson Pty Ltd from securing federal contracts, while the CFMEU has hardened its position against re-opening deals to make them compliant with the latest changes to the 2016 code.
A full Federal Court majority has found that the court cannot treat a "lawful request" or a party's motivation for taking coercive industrial action as a mitigating factor when assessing penalties and has ordered a twelve-fold increase in fines against the CFMEU for organising a blockade at Perth International Airport in 2013.
New ACTU secretary Sally McManus has defended her support for unionists to break "unjust laws", arguing the ability to strike is a "human right" and that Australia is out of step with international labour conventions.
Workers at spice giant McCormick Foods are commencing rolling strikes today as a call for a consumer boycott of iconic products such as Aeroplane Jelly and Keen's Mustard gains traction on social media.
The ACTU is asking the FWC for a $45 a week or 6.7% increase in the national minimum wage, as it begins a push under its fresh leadership to lift minimum rates towards a new benchmark against average weekly earnings.
