Qantas and the ALAEA are embroiled in another dispute and are back before Fair Work Australia this afternoon over licensed engineers performing safety checks the airline maintains are no longer required.
If the Fair Work Act review fails to result in substantial change to right of entry and protected action provisions, future investors in large-scale infrastucture projects will need to be "willing to give the keys" for their projects to Fair Work Australia, a leading IR barrister has warned.
NSW Treasurer Mike Baird has called on department heads to shed 10,000 public service jobs over four years as part of a 1.2% annual reduction in labour costs, but promised nurses, police officers and teachers will be "quarantined" from the cuts.
The former president of Fair Work Australia, Justice Geoffrey Giudice, has questioned whether the existing protections for the public from the effects of industrial action are adequate.
Fair Work Australia has found the TWU has the right to represent security guards at Adelaide Airport, but the union has failed to prove it has the support of a majority of the workforce to initiate bargaining.
Controversial HSU national secretary Kathy Jackson called for reforms to union elections and governance in a speech last night to the HR Nicholls Society, in which she likened Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten to "Dracula in charge of the blood bank" when it came to devolving power from factional leaders.
Former Federal Court judge Michael Moore at midday became the interim administrator for the state-registered HSUeast and federally-registered HSU East branch, under an order by Justice Geoffrey Flick that also suspends all elected union officers from their positions.
The CFMEU's mining and energy division is likely to appeal FWA's approval of the Queensland Bulk Handling agreement, the latest in a series of deals containing opt-out clauses to be endorsed by the tribunal.
