In a decision signalling potential judicial pushback against so-called "sham" agreements, a Federal Court has quashed a two-year-old deal approved by three employees that now covers more than 1000 mining services workers, ruling that the employer made inadequate efforts to explain a document benchmarked against 11 different awards.
Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said last night that she made an offer to the Opposition to split-off into a separate Bill elements of the "four-yearly review" legislation that enable the FWC to overlook technical and minor errors in agreements, after tribunal president Iain Ross twice wrote asking her to urgently secure its passage.
The Fair Work Commission says its failure to meet timeliness targets for agreement approvals is partly due to the delay in passage of the Turnbull Government's legislation that would enable it to overlook minor or technical flaws in proposed deals.
The Federal court system faces an unprecedented half-day strike by support staff this afternoon over stalled pay negotiations which have left them without a rise for four years.
A Federal Labor Government would require that workers who vote on a new enterprise agreement be representative of those who will eventually be covered by it.
In an unusual case in which a coffee chain franchisee has convinced an FWC full bench to quash its agreement after claiming it and an IR consultant provided false evidence to win its approval, the tribunal will refer their statutory declarations to the Federal Police to investigate whether they have committed any crimes.
The FWC has granted the CFMEU standing as an intervener to scrutinise whether an agreement passes the better off overall test, despite an employer's objections that it has no members affected, has a commercial interest in opposing deals and is a generally disreputable organisation.
Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie today introduced a private members' bill to prevent the Fair Work Commission from agreeing to employer requests to terminate expired enterprise agreements that leave workers worse off.
The FWC looks set to reduce by a week its hearings into an application by Coles nightfill worker Penny Vickers to terminate the 2011 agreement, after warning that granting further extensions could render her case moot if the retailer gets a new agreement approved.
