Planned industrial action by more than 20,000 Centrelink employees has been postponed after FWC-guided discussions saw the Department of Human Services withdraw an s418 order to halt the strike on the basis it was a protest against its so-called "robo-debt" scheme rather than a legitimate bargaining manouevre.
AMMA has asked an FWC presidential member to correct the public record, claiming he was wrong in upbraiding the employer body for its "apparent failure" to inform the Commission about changes to its client's ownership during a good faith bargaining case.
The Department of Human Services today told the FWC that it must make an s418 order to halt industrial action by more than 20,000 Centrelink employees from midnight on Monday because it constituted a protest against the agency's "robo-debt" recovery scheme rather than the pursuit of legitimate bargaining claims.
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.
The FWC has upheld the summary dismissal of a rail worker who argued that her employer's failure to warn her or take action over misconduct stretching back as far as two years was akin to "condoning" her behaviour.
The Andrews Labor Government has introduced a Bill to Parliament that expands the State's referral of IR powers to Canberra to ensure the validity of clauses in public sector enterprise agreements that might infringe Victoria’s constitutional immunity.
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.
Former Liberal Treasurer Peter Costello says there is bipartisan support in Australian politics to maintain the "Rudd/Gillard wage fixing apparatus", but that economic pressures will force politicians to act in coming years.
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.
