Unions for the first time in 20 years have increased the proportion of workers who are members, with density reaching 19.7% in the 12 months to August last year and the number of union members rising for the second year in a row, by 82,200 to 1,835,100.
ASU welcomes "world first" bargaining win at IBM; CFMEU winds up company to secure entitlements; FWA orders Target to bargain with head office employees; and Wage growth to return to 4% in 2011-12: Treasury
FWA has taken a tough line on ensuring employers meet pre-approval requirements for their new agreements, rejecting a deal covering some 85 NSW worksites because the company failed to give a handful of employees enough time to consider it - including one on maternity leave, which the tribunal said was "potentially discriminatory".
Vale Jeff Shaw; FWA's Whelan moving to federal magistracy; Government suspends some temporary skilled migration visas; and FWA member bemoans agreement applications filled out like "notes on back of beer coaster".
A major security company that provided an incomplete copy of its proposed enterprise agreement to employees and made a critical error in the notice informing them when the ballot closed has failed to have its enterprise agreement approved.
A Fair Work Australia full bench has upheld a finding that Telstra was justified in sacking an employee for providing the CEPU with confidential documents revealing its non-union bargaining strategy and its success in individualising its employment arrangements and de-unionising its workforce.
The LHMU will seek pay rises for about 60,000 aged care employees – possibly through arbitration – after becoming the first union seeking to utilise the Fair Work Act's low-paid bargaining stream.
Fair Work Australia has this afternoon rejected a bid by IBM Australia Limited for a stay - pending an appeal - on a majority support declaration in favour of the ASU.
Xstrata subsidiary Ulan Coal Mines has successfully challenged a single FWA member's ruling that 10 workers it dismissed last year during a restructure were not genuinely made redundant.
FWA refuses to count HR diploma course as part of employee's income; Bench upholds sacking for breach of "responsible drinking" policy; BHPB entity's sacking of worker who failed breath test was reasonable; Employment ended when contract expired; and Qantas gets nod for legal representation.
