A combination of "bargaining electorates" and sector-based agreements could help propel union density past 50% within five years and make employers compete on productivity and quality rather than labour costs, according to a paper delivered at the AIRAANZ conference in Canberra.
A court has fined the CFMEU and two organisers almost $100,000, after finding the union engaged in unlawful coercion and adverse action when it organised a blockade at the $1.6 billion Port of Melbourne expansion project because an employer refused to bargain.
Mining giant Thiess has had a proposed enterprise agreement knocked back because it was not genuinely agreed, with the FWC finding the company chose the three employees who participated in the ballot to "manipulate" the result.
The FWC has issued former Tasmanian union peak body leader Kevin Harkins an entry permit, despite his "serious" past contraventions, after finding it is not the Commission's role to punish individuals for past wrongdoing.
The FWC has reinstated four workers after finding they were not "genuinely redundant" and that their employer took an "unduly hasty and largely tokenistic" approach to meeting its consultation and redeployment obligations.
CFMEU construction and general division Victorian branch secretary John Setka has threatened to withdraw support for the Andrews Labor State Government in protest at ministers "promoting and supporting" major construction company Grocon.
The Retail and Fast Food Workers Union says it has dozens of Bakers Delight agreements in its sights in today's first application to terminate an expired deal it alleges leaves some workers more than $2000 a year worse off than under the award.
