In a signal to employers that they must have systems in place to ensure they promptly provide information the FWC requires to launch a protected action ballot, the Federal Court has imposed a substantial fine on waste giant Cleanaway for a short delay in the "time-critical" process, while warning that in more egregious cases larger penalties would be warranted.
A construction company has failed in its bid to stop potential strikes amid claims of union interference in the protected action ballot process, the FWC pointing out that it cannot make orders preventing industrial action yet to be endorsed or notified.
The FWC has urged the Defence Department to send "an authorised and properly instructed representative" to deadlocked bargaining negotiations at the Australian Submarine Corporation.
An employer is opposing a CFMEU request to have the FWC hold a joint post-PABO compulsory conciliation conference relating to two separate deals for its workers on the Cross River Rail project in South-East Queensland.
Australian Federal Police Association members have endorsed taking 36 types of protected industrial action - including indefinite or periodic bans on attending Federal politicians' functions or events that do not carry a "significant" threat rating or higher - in pursuit of pay rises that break the shackles of the Albanese Government's 11.2% over three years public sector pay deal.
A senior FWC member has granted unions a protected action ballot period of eight working days despite an employer's claim his decision in Nilsen established a 10-day minimum for electronic voting, and its concerns a shorter timeframe will hamper preparations for the s448A compulsory conference.
Protected industrial action by Royal Flying Doctor Service nurses has been put on hold after the ballot agent named the wrong union on the voting report.
A FWC presidential member has taken a harder line on extending notice periods for protected action, rejecting Virgin Australia's bid to increase warnings of strikes and bans from three to seven days, because it would result in diminished worker bargaining power.
A FWC member is recommending "a good deal" to settle a Sydney Water bargaining dispute that would boost wages by 11%, provide a one-off $2000 cost of living payment and facilitate a new classification framework to bust through the utility's "glass ceiling".
A pre-Christmas waterfront battle between the MUA and container terminal operator DP World kicks off today with a 48-hour strike in Fremantle, which started at 6am WA time, to be followed by a 44-hour stoppage in Melbourne, from noon on Sunday.