Former HSU national president Michael Williamson will be sentenced on October 25 after today pleading guilty to four charges, including defrauding the union of almost $1 million.
A consortium that purchased a publicly-owned coal loader told 80 transferring employees that they would not be worse off under a replacement superannuation scheme to avoid courting "further industrial unrest and employee dissatisfaction," the NSW Industrial Court has found in an unfair contract ruling.
In a rallying call to the three divisions of the CFMEU, national secretary Michael O'Connor has said that the collective organisation is not yet a "great union", but has made some big strides this year towards becoming one.
CFMEU construction and general division national secretary Dave Noonan has called on the ALP to give union members a say in choosing the party leader and election candidates, and said unions were preparing for the Abbott Government's plan to extend the ABCC's jurisdiction offshore.
Labor's new federal leader - former AWU national secretary Bill Shorten - will allocate his frontbench team their portfolios on Friday, after their election by Caucus in Canberra today.
Employment Minister Eric Abetz will intervene on public interest grounds in support of Victoria's appeal against the Federal Court's findings that enforcing its construction code breached the Fair Work Act's prohibitions on adverse action and coercion.
The Federal Court has this afternoon ordered the Victorian Government to pay the CFMEU nearly $55,000 in penalties after earlier ruling that it breached adverse action and coercion laws by enforcing its embattled construction code.
The Supreme Court of South Australia has added a further $12,175 in interest to the $47,081 damages it awarded a former Adelaide boarding school head it found was unlawfully dismissed, also ordering the school to formally declare she was not guilty of the misconduct alleged.
The Fair Work Commission has once again refused to remove or reduce penalty rates in the restaurant and catering industry, finding that there have been no significant changes since the modern award was finalised in 2010.
