In a breakthrough for NSW fisheries officers seeking to carry capsicum spray while patrolling for poachers, the State IRC has refused to terminate work bans after the Department of Primary Industries failed to convince it they seriously risk depleting fish stocks.
The FWC has declined to issue cost orders against two drone operators who "without reasonable cause" used the forum to pursue anti-bullying orders against airspace regulators, but warned them they might not be so fortunate again should they ever choose to make similar applications.
The FWO issued a caution to DEWR in September for its self-disclosed $243,000 underpayment of about 200 employees, it has told a Senate Estimates hearing.
Lawyers involved in "wage theft" class actions on behalf of thousands of junior doctors says Victorian public health services might face tens of millions of dollars in fines after a court found one of them "expressly and brazenly" instructed trainees to perform unpaid overtime.
The ETU's hard-fought campaigns for new deals with two NSW electricity suppliers have moved closer to FWC-arbitrated resolutions after the union and Endeavour Energy received a fortnight to hammer out their differences and state secretary Allen Hicks expressed hope that a Commission full bench would make an intractable bargaining determination for Transgrid "by early next year".
The Australian Federal Police has set up a special operation to investigate allegations of criminal conduct in the construction industry and the CFMEU, and already has one new "priority" probe underway, after a July referral from then Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke.
FWC general manager Murray Furlong has referred to the AFP 12 of the almost 800 reports he has received about potentially unlawful conduct or activity by the CFMEU's construction division or its officers and is also seeking intelligence to identify whether any of 10 "leaders in exile" have flouted anti-avoidance provisions, he told a Senate Estimates hearing yesterday.
In what unions are calling a win for all Tasmanian workers, listed Canadian-owned food giant Saputo has after 20 weeks of industrial action agreed to a 21.7% pay rise for maintenance employees at its Burnie cheese plant.
Long-serving Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association secretary Steve Purvinas says he has resigned to move on to "less stressful" pastures in the face of mounting opposition to his methods.
The Federal Court has refused a bid to throw out parts of a general protections case brought by an IT worker allegedly dismissed after she queried the underpayment of the cryptocurrency-based component of her remuneration and suggested she might involve her union and take the matter to authorities.
