A court has fined an OHS representative $3500 for taking adverse action when he refused to induct non-CFMEU subcontractors at a construction site, in the new Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate's first FOA prosecution.
Claims by James Ashby, the former media advisor to federal Speaker Peter Slipper, damaged the Government and furthered the aims of his political opponents, the Federal Court heard today.
The Federal Court will hand down its decision on the HSU's administration on Thursday after this morning rejecting an adjournment application by national secretary Kathy Jackson - despite her counsel saying she wanted to put to the court an allegation that would have an "absolutely dynamic" effect on the case.
Federal Court full court upholds mandatory drug test regime; FWA orders halt licensed engineers' industrial action; NSW inquiry recommends axing journey cover; Make public services contestable to unlock productivity gains, says Sturgess; and Chubb fails to halt alleged "covert" industrial campaign.
Fair Work Australia has become a "micro-manager" of industrial relations, abandoning the tribunal's world leadership in independent conciliation and arbitration and its involvement in "seminal" disputes, according to the last industrial registrar.
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.
