Melbourne's fire authority has failed to have FWC member Nick Wilson bar himself from hearing its high-stakes application to terminate its expired enterprise agreements after he ruled that a "fair-minded observer" would not see any difficulties with his involvement in earlier related cases.
In its first substantive ruling on the merits of an application under the new bullying jurisdiction, the Fair Work Commission has fleshed out the concept of "reasonable management action" in rejecting a manager's claim that she had been subjected to repeated unreasonable treatment by two of her subordinates.
The FWBC has lodged new Federal Court action alleging coercion by the CFMEU's WA construction branch and officials at the $1.2 billion New Children's Hospital project in Perth last year, its third prosecution relating to the site.
Tugboat workers in Port Hedland, the outlet for much of Australia's iron ore exports, have endorsed legally protected industrial action in pursuit of improved pay and conditions in a new agreement.
Construction company Thiess Contractors Pty Limited began paying tens of thousands of dollars each quarter to a secret union slush fund, after AWU officials in WA assured the company the state's largest construction project would be a single-union site with no demarcation disputes, the Heydon Royal Commission heard today.
Ex-AWU official Ralph Blewitt told the Heydon Royal Commission today that he had given another official, Bruce Wilson, $50,000 in cash from a slush fund, that he believed was to be passed on to the union's former Queensland branch secretary and powerbroker, Bill Ludwig.
The Fair Work Commission has knocked back a major electricity distributor's application to exclude middle managers and senior technical employees from its new enterprise agreement, finding "no persuasive evidence" it would improve productivity and efficiency.
The Federal Court has ruled that the Fair Work Act's general protections provisions cover a wide range of employment complaints, but said they were not the reason for a client services manager's sacking.
The HSU has lodged a claim for its former national secretary Kathy Jackson to repay $246,500 in union money it alleges were transferred to an external fund that was used for political campaigning.
The Federal Court has rejected mining giant Rio Tinto's bid to have a CFMEU adverse action claim struck out, holding the Fair Work Act does not authorise "discriminatory" payments.
