Agreements and bargaining page 114 of 174

The Federal Court has dismissed the nursing union's bid to stop Bupa cutting jobs, finding that 23 potential redundancies in a workforce of 3000 did not constitute a "major" change that would trigger an agreement's consultation clause.

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 Federal Court has tossed out a challenge to an FWC full bench decision, describing confidence in the administration of justice as a "significant factor" in finding Energy Australia's case an abuse of process.

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 Fair Work Commission has ordered Glencore subsididary Oaky Creek Coal to stop conducting surveillance of locked-out employees of its Oaky North underground coal mine in Queensland.

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.

An FWC full bench will today hear aviation services company Aerocare's appeal against the tribunal's rejection of its proposed enterprise agreement.

The NSW Teachers Federation says a dispute settlement reached with the Department of Education will provide at least 2630 permanent jobs for casual and temporary public school teachers, with Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon telling Federal Parliament the deal underlines "the advantages of union density".

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 a landmark judgment upholding a casual employee's right to convert to permanency on a "like for like" basis, the Federal Court has concluded it should fine Toll more than $40,000 and order it to compensate a freight handler for refusing to grant his request for full-time employment from May last year.