Labor's audacious bid to restore penalty rates in the retail and hospitality sectors by piggy-backing one of the Federal Government's own IR bills fell at the first hurdle today, when rebel Nationals MP George Christensen indicated he could not support legislation that failed to protect businesses from back-pay claims.
As teachers in about 350 NSW and ACT Catholic schools strike today over a proposed agreement's lack of guaranteed access to arbitration, employers claim the move is an attempt by the IEU to dissuade them from voting for the deal tomorrow.
The Federal Circuit Court will next week consider claims by the director of a public relations company that it took adverse action when it discriminated against him because of his mental illness and sacked him when he complained.
The Port of Melbourne's new stevedore has warned that continuation of a picket will increase the size of its planned damages claim, with 24-hour CCTV monitoring being reviewed for possible "criminal conduct".
A CFMEU shop steward took adverse action against a painter when he first grudgingly permitted and then subsequently refused him access to a site because he was behind in his union dues, a court has found.
Lawyers for Employment Minister Michaelia Cash have applied for the Federal Court to set aside a subpoena served on her by the AWU over last month's AFP raids on the union.
The operator of a new highly-automated container terminal in Melbourne has this afternoon won a seven-day interim injunction to stop an apparently "extremely effective" picket that has stopped trucks entering and leaving the Webb Dock site since early this week.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a group training company's trainer for falsifying his timesheets, but has upbraided the employer for failing to give the worker enough time to study the complex allegations against him.
The FWC has rejected a union branch's bid to recoup costs from an organiser who withdrew his unfair dismissal claim, noting he was told he'd be sacked if he didn't resign after informing the secretary's husband he wouldn't be voting for him in an internal Labor election.
The future of a joint union equal pay claim for childcare workers is hanging in the balance after an FWC full bench was yesterday left searching for "real world" scenarios establishing metalworkers as a suitable comparator.
