The Federal Magistrates Court has ordered the CFMEU (construction division) to pay penalties totalling $49,550 and a delegate $12,000 for breaching freedom of association laws over a bid to convince a contractor and a labour-hire worker to join the union; while a South Australian CFMEU official has been fined $1,300 and faces having his entry permit revoked for delaying a concrete pour.
CFMEU construction and general division WA branch secretary Kevin Reynolds has denied any involvement in events that led to hundreds of members being declared unfinancial in the lead-up to the union's election, in documents tendered in a State IRC hearing today.
In the first appeal ruling on the Work Choices provision allowing the suspension of industrial action causing significant harm to a third party, an AIRC full bench majority has overturned a two-month freeze on industrial action by school teachers in the NT.
Labour hire firm could employ Pacific Island seasonal workers; AIRC rearranges award modernisation consultations; Redraft Act to avoid unintended ballot order invalidity, says AIRC; Industrial Relations Society annual conferences coming up in WA, Vic; and ANU student wins McCallum Medal.
As the Federal Government's deadline for introducing its substantive IR legislation draws nearer, employer lobbying is continuing, with the ACCI today saying business would assess the new system against a five-point test, while the AMMA continued its criticism of the ALP's proposed new unfair dismissal laws.
The CFMEU has won the right to intervene in a Federal Court case that could have significant ramifications for the redundancy entitlements of construction workers across the country.
The Special Broacasting Service and media unions are close to securing a new enterprise deal that will pay a 12.5% increase over three years and boost paid parental leave, after the broadcaster dropped a contentious "fitness for duty" clause that employees feared would extend managerial prerogative and erode workers' privacy.
Australian Building and Construction Commissioner John Lloyd revealed last night that he hasn’t launched a review of his institution’s legal procedures since a Federal Court judge a fortnight ago accused it of bias in pursuing an unfounded case against a union and its officials while ignoring the unlawful conduct of a plumbing contractor run by a "foul-mouthed industrial cowboy".
With only three parliamentary sitting weeks left in 2008, DEEWR today confirmed during Senate Estimates that the Federal Government was on track to introduce its substantive IR legislation this year; said a "wide range of issues" were being considered following the recent 10-day CoIL meeting on the bill; and revealed that Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard had invited the Opposition to meet during the week beginning November 10 to discuss the legislation's passage through parliament.
Unions have derided as “more of the same” a new attempt by Telstra to build support for a non-union collective agreement with its workforce by canvassing interest in a new “framework” agreement.
