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.
So-called 'comic' employment contracts replacing dense legalese with images have been coolly received by both the peak employer and employee bodies, each expressing a preference for the power of words when it comes to interpretation and enforcement.
An FWC full bench has reserved its decision in a case that looms as a significant test of what constitutes a new activity for the purposes of making a greenfields agreement.
The IEU is recommending NSW and ACT Catholic school teachers and support workers vote "yes" to a revised deal breaking an extended deadlock over guaranteed access to FWC arbitration, while employers have committed to making a second back-payment to the start of the year.
In a development that might fuel debate over the links between union power and wage rises, substantially above-average pay increases secured in the heavily-unionised construction sector have pushed bargained private sector wage rises off their recent historic low.
Pilots at budget airline Tigerair have warned that planned industrial action from Friday to Sunday could cause flight delays and cancellations, but unions say it could be back off the table by 5pm today if the employer improves its pay offer and budges on rostering, leave and parking costs.
The Fair Work Commission acceded to a bid by mining giants to terminate a coal loading agreement after concluding that a system of "self-directed" work teams that constrains management prerogative "needs to go".