The Abbott Government will brief unions and employer groups in Canberra tomorrow morning on its legislation to re-establish the ABCC, with the atmosphere likely to be tense after MBA chief executive Wilhelm Harnisch's call last night for the CFMEU to behave "like normal people".
Ashurst Australia consultant Geoffrey Giudice says a recent decision by the National Association of Testing Authorities to withdraw the provision of accreditation for on-site saliva testing undermines a Fair Work Commission full bench's conclusion that there had been significant improvements in oral fluid sampling devices used in workplaces.
In a rare adverse action case involving an independent contractor, the Federal Court has issued a mandatory injunction compelling a building materials supplier to provide concrete haulage work to an owner-driver pending the hearing of his case that his contract was terminated because of his union activity.
There is "no impediment" to the Fair Work Commission adopting an equal remuneration principle that could "occupy the ground between uncertainty and prescription" and guide the tribunal and parties involved in equal remuneration cases, according to a new draft report commissioned by the FWC's pay equity unit.
In a ruling with significant implications for bargaining involving multiple employee representatives, the Fair Work Commission has ordered Linfox to provide the NUW with the TWU's log of claims for a new national agreement, and the company's written response.
A Pilbara labour hire company has failed to win an interlocutory injunction to stop its former general manager from working for a competitor at Rio Tinto's Paraburdoo mine, after the WA Supreme Court said its restraint of trade case had holes in it and damages would be an adequate remedy if it ultimately succeeded.
TWU national secretary and ALP national vice president Tony Sheldon has proposed giving affiliated unions a third of the votes in ALP leadership ballots and argued that reducing union representation would damage the party over time.
