The Federal Court has found that the CFMEU unlawfully coerced construction joint venturers when it threatened to take industrial action on a "national scale" and bring about "Armageddon" if they sought to enforce an anti-strike order.
Victoria's Country Fire Authority has "serious concerns" about a Fair Work Commission "final recommendation" that seeks to break a bargaining deadlock that threatens to become a political crisis for the Andrews Labor Government.
Majority support clauses might reduce the administrative burden of juggling multiple modern awards but risks could outweigh the benefits, according to research on employer and employee perceptions commissioned by the FWC as part of its four-yearly review of modern awards.
Fast food giant McDonald's is standing by its agreement that trades off lower penalty rates for an over-award hourly rate, despite the FWC rejecting a similar deal for Coles Supermarkets.
The FWC has decried the "normalisation" of a culture of lawlessness within the CFMEU, in decisions refusing two officials' applications for entry permits after they failed the "fit and proper person" test, but granting entry rights to another organiser who allegedly threatened to start a Boral-style "war" against a major construction company.
A former Sydney University academic who failed to honour costs orders of $20,000 for unsuccessful unfair dismissal proceedings must now pay her former employer more than $130,000, after the Federal Circuit Court found her conduct unreasonable and her application vexatious.
A Federal Court judge has accepted that the CFMEU's construction and general division was pursuing a "just" cause when it conducted a four-hour unlawful blockade at Perth's international airport to seek outstanding wages from a building subcontractor, but has nevertheless fined the union and its officials $20,000.
Unions will push for a legislated "no reduction principle" for penalty rates, in contrast to the Labor policy stance of having them decided by the Fair Work Commission.
Productivity, hours worked and real unit labour costs increased markedly in the year to March, while the wages share of the economy increased to a 12-year high, according to ABS national accounts data released today.
