Minister responds to Senator Abetz criticism of FWA appointments; High Court to deliver AEU SA decision tomorrow; Bench refuses union's costs bid in dismissal appeal; and IR manager not dismissed because of bullying complaints.
The Federal Magistrates Court has found News Ltd subsidiary Queensland Newspapers summarily dismissed a printer because of repeated misbehaviour rather than his exercising of workplace rights.
Employers would be required to give three days' notice of lockouts; deliberate Qantas-style groundings/lockouts would not trigger termination of protected industrial action; and job security and workloads would be declared as matters pertaining, under a private member's bill introduced to Parliament by Greens MP and IR spokesperson Adam Bandt.
The Federal Opposition has made an extraordinary attack on Fair Work Australia and its new president, saying it "will watch very closely" the appointment of Justice Iain Ross to the role and that it remains to be seen whether he can rehabilitate the tribunal's "tarnished image".
Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten this morning praised outgoing Fair Work Australia President, Justice Geoffrey Giudice, for his "wise detachment" and proving the naysayers wrong by succeeding in modernising awards, at a farewell ceremonial sitting in Melbourne.
The Federal Government has appointed former AIRC Vice President Iain Ross as the new head of Fair Work Australia, replacing Justice Geoffrey Giudice, who retires on February 29.
Unions that defy tribunal dispute orders will face significantly higher penalties, employees will be able to choose which union they join and it will be easier to sack excess public servants, under IR changes announced yesterday by the NSW Government.
Banks are entitled to hold their employees to the "highest standard of honesty and integrity", Fair Work Australia has found in upholding Westpac's dismissal of a customer service employee who tendered a falsified medical certificate.
The protracted and costly bargaining dispute at BHPB's Bowen Basin coal mines has escalated again, with unions notifying the company yesterday - as 3,500 workers returned from a seven-day strike - of 10 days of stoppages at two of the seven mines from Saturday.
