After clashing over workload protections for teachers and support workers in more than 500 NSW and ACT Catholic schools, the Independent Education Union is seeking to take industrial action and negotiate agreements directly with 11 dioceses rather than make the multi-enterprise agreement sought by the Catholic Commission for Employment Relations.
Fair Work Commission President Iain Ross has rejected criticism over the rash of recent departures from the tribunal, arguing they fit a pattern of senior members retiring soon after reaching their maximum pension entitlement.
A vote today has confirmed that key minor crossbench senators have dropped their support for the looming cuts to penalty rates in retail and hospitality.
An FWC full bench has quashed an order requiring a worker's representative, due to his unreasonable acts or omissions, to pay more than $11,000 of the employer's costs in an unfair dismissal case.
Two of Australia's largest unions, the SDA and United Voice, are seeking increases to the minimum wage of 10% or more, well above the rise sought by the ACTU.
A full Federal Court majority has found that the court cannot treat a "lawful request" or a party's motivation for taking coercive industrial action as a mitigating factor when assessing penalties and has ordered a twelve-fold increase in fines against the CFMEU for organising a blockade at Perth International Airport in 2013.
New ACTU secretary Sally McManus has defended her support for unionists to break "unjust laws", arguing the ability to strike is a "human right" and that Australia is out of step with international labour conventions.
A full Federal Court will in August hear an application from Queensland employers facing millions of dollars in backpay claims following a full FWC bench decision that apprentices' pay should be measured against the more generous federal award rather than the state award when conducting the BOOT.
The Productivity Commission has called for the assessment and approval of default superannuation providers to be removed from the award system and the oversight of the Fair Work Commission.
Two important minor parties – the Nick Xenophon Team and Pauline Hanson's One Nation – have reversed their support for cutting penalty rates in the retail and hospitality sectors.
