FSU legally represented in banking royal commission; "No end date" comment spurs on-hire dismissal claim; Company's "secret" to closing gender pay gap; Disputes at decade-long low; and surprising lift in US private sector union membership.
The FWC has given the ACTU until the end of the month to explain how it has standing to object to a non-affiliated pilots union's rule change bid that Qantas has labelled "so broad" it could extend to "any person anywhere", with objectors also set to weigh in on the validity of the clause's endorsement.
Employer groups have failed in their bid to delay the March 27 CFMEU-MUA-TCFU amalgamation, but have taken solace from a senior FWC member's observation that their April 9 appeal to an FWC full bench "surmounts the fairly low bar of being arguable".
The Fair Work Commission has reserved its decision on whether to permit an appeal against the approval of the CFMEU's merger with the MUA and the TCFU, employer groups signalling their challenge wouldn't end there if refused.
CEPU communications division national secretary Greg Rayner has dragged a state branch before the Federal Court for the second time in two years in a bid to claw back cash provided to fund the redundancy of a long-serving administration employee.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called for this year's minimum wage increase to be no higher than 1.9% or about $13.20 a week, after taking into account the impact on small and regional businesses.
Former union leader Julie Bignell is among of a group of senior elected officials and employees of Together Queensland who have complained to the ROC and privacy commissioner over alleged unlawful and unauthorised covert in-house surveillance of their emails and keystrokes during a protracted merger process completed three years ago.
In the lead-up to the AWU wielding its numbers at the ACTU Congress in July, the union has commissioned a "modern membership project" after the Registered Organisations Commission recommended that it undertake an external audit to correct historical discrepancies in its enrolments.
