Agreements and bargaining page 107 of 175

Workplace Minister Craig Laundy has been granted permission to intervene in the approval of a new enterprise agreement covering the Melbourne Metropolitan Fire Brigade, despite the UFU's criticism of it as an "unprecedented hijack" of the process.

The FWC has given Arnott's biscuits the go-ahead to introduce urine testing of all employees for drug and alcohol use, while the food giant has agreed to trial a union proposal for workers to take immediate leave without pay if they record a positive from oral or breathalyser self-tests before a shift.

An FWC full bench has questioned why Aldi continued post-Peabody to issue invalid notices of representative rights by directing workers' bargaining questions to a "leader" rather than their employer, finding the "restricting" modification far from trivial.

The Fair Work Commission has reserved its decision on whether Federal Workplace Minister Craig Laundy can intervene in the approval of a new enterprise agreement covering the Melbourne Metropolitan Fire Brigade, an attempt criticised by the UFU as an "unprecedented hijack" of the process.

The FWC has found it reasonably arguable that the NUW is involved in a coordinated approach to involve itself in bargaining at Linfox despite being ineligible to represent its tanker drivers, issuing production orders regarding a non-Linfox NUW delegate who seeks to be a bargaining representative.

Virgin Australia can use pilots' entire final pay to meet increasing costs of training new recruits if they leave within three years, under a domestic pilots' agreement that the FWC has approved despite finding it "likely" that the clause is not a permitted deduction.

A full Federal Court has today dismissed an attempt to overturn the Fair Work Commission's rejection of a new enterprise agreement for aviation ground-handling company Aerocare.

In a significant decision on the FWC's power to deal with clashes between agreements and state laws, a tribunal member has found that jurisdiction was established by a combination of health and safety considerations and the absence of legislative reference to exclusive arbitrators.

Bench says employer's "bland" description no help to BOOT assessment; FWC takes chainsaw to gardener's sacking; and Tribunal rejects bid to require witness to appear in person.

In a significant addition to the jurisprudence around "arrangements" between transferring businesses, the FWC has rejected union arguments that the urgent use of an old employer's pathology equipment after a midnight handover should lead to continuing employees being retained on their existing, more generous enterprise agreement.