Commission launches stakeholder-led initiatives; FWC extends time after representative error; Vale Barrie French; Martin Ferguson keynote speaker at ALERA in August; FWC convening lectures and mock hearings next week; & Minimum wage struggle in pictures.
The Financial Services Council's challenge to the panel chosen by the Fair Work Commission for the review of default superannuation funds will go to trial in the Federal Court in the first week of June.
The number of casual workers in Australia has climbed past the 2.2 million mark but the proportion of the workforce that is casual has steadied and another form of non-standard employment - independent contracting - has fallen over the last five years, according to the latest ABS data.
The Federal Court has refused to reinstate a sales consultant pending the hearing of his wrongful dismissal claim, finding that his relationship with his former employer had broken down and that damages would be an adequate remedy if he ended up winning his case.
FWBC has launched Federal Court proceedings against CFMEU construction division national president David Hanna over an alleged breach of right of entry laws.
A court has found it seriously arguable that a contractual clause was reasonable in restraining a Fairfax executive from working for a competitor for six months, but refused to order him to comply because the publisher was slow to enforce it and because he had given undertakings not to poach clients or use his former employer's confidential information.
The Federal Court has ordered the CFMEU to stop blocking access to a major Sydney apartment project, pending the full hearing of the developer's claim that the union has breached secondary boycott laws.
The Heydon Royal Commission into trade unions will begin its public hearings with the former AWU official Ralph Blewitt, in evidence that is expected to touch on the role of former Prime Minister Julia Gillard as a young lawyer.
NUW Victorian branch secretary Tim Kennedy is poised to succeed Charlie Donnelly as the union's national secretary, in the latest leadership changes at the top of the Australian labour movement.
The Fair Work Commission has pushed the federal and state governments to show their hands in this year's wage review, asking them what dollar or percentage increase would constitute a "cautious" or "balanced" approach.
