The Australian Law Reform Commission in its "freedoms" interim report has suggested that it might be "desirable" for the inquiry to closely examine whether the IR regime unjustifiably encroaches on freedom of association.
The Federal Circuit Court has fined construction company Baulderstone $25,000 for taking adverse action against a worker who resigned his CFMEU membership, along with $7000 in penalties for two HR managers who were carrying out orders and failed to "exercise their choice" to refuse to comply.
The MUA has denied it is orchestrating picket lines outside Hutchinson's Port Botany and Brisbane container terminals after the FWC issued an updated anti-strike order prohibiting it from organising further protests.
Making trade unions compete with other bargaining agents, replacing awards with minimum standards and turning the FWC into an independent regulator would reduce the entrenched position of insiders and boost the nation's labour market, says a new paper by the Minerals Council of Australia.
A former general manager of the CFMEU's NSW branch objected in 2005 to a proposed $100,000 "donation" from the builder Thiess Hochtief, the Heydon Royal Commission heard today.
The TWU's NSW branch and Star Track Express have been wrangling in the Fair Work Commission over a protected action ballot order which the company says is about a "turf war" bid to cut out the CEPU and deprive its members of benefits under a new enterprise deal.
Stevedore Hutchison is this afternoon urgently seeking a s418 order against the MUA, claiming that it is organising pickets outside its Sydney and Brisbane container terminals over its midnight dismissals of almost 100 employees - about 40% of its workforce.
The High Court's refusal today to grant special leave to challenge approval of "unauthorised" agreements leaves a group of three Melbourne private hospitals facing up to $1.5 million in unpaid wage rises in a 2012-2016 agreement they say is not sustainable or viable.
A Queensland abattoir has again failed in its bid to have a contentious enterprise agreement approved and previous orders by the FWC knocked out, after a full Federal Court rejected its appeal.
