APESMA has abandoned its long-running bid to secure a staff collective agreement at a BHP coal mine in Queensland's Bowen Basin, but says its bargaining campaign delivered key benefits to members.
Fair Work Australia has held that it has no jurisdiction to hear a dispute over disciplinary action taken against three coal-mining workers for alleged after-hours behaviour.
Queensland public sector employees’ battle with the Newman Government has moved to the Supreme Court and has led to new protected action ballot orders – and firefighters throwing their boots at Parliament House.
FWA should have the power to initiate the “supervised negotiation” of intractable or damaging bargaining disputes, and a new test for accessing arbitration is needed, according to a new edition of a book on good faith bargaining.
The federal Treasury and DEEWR have agreed that an FWA expert panel – not an outside body - should assess expressions of interest from super funds seeking to become default options in modern awards, and that employers should not be able to choose funds from outside the awards.
Billed as a "battle between labour and capital", the National Press Club was home to a debate this afternoon between AiG chief executive Innes Willox and CFMEU national secretary Dave Noonan in which they agreed on the problems plaguing productivity, but diverged on the future of the Fair Work Act.
The Federal Court has penalised Rio Tinto $35,500 for taking adverse action against a Pilbara mining worker, finding that the company had shown no contrition and there was a substantial risk it would re-offend.
Reactions to KPMG's report on FWA's investigation into the HSU have ranged from disappointment to calls for a judicial inquiry, but principal investigator Terry Nassios maintains that extra resources would not have made a substantial difference to the timeframe.
KPMG has found there were significant flaws in FWA's investigation into the HSU and made a series of recommendations that general manager Bernadette O'Neill has committed to adopting, but it did not find any signs of interference in the process.
