Under arrangements agreed to today between lawyers acting for the ACTU and counsel assisting the inquiry, unions will have until 2pm this Thursday to file written submissions, if they want to continue with the application to have Commissioner Heydon disqualified from presiding over the Royal Commission.
The MUA told an interlocutory hearing in Brisbane today that stevedore Hutchison should reinstate 97 workers from its Port Botany and Brisbane container terminals, because the company had breached its agreement when it engaged in tokenistic rather than substantive consultation with its workforce.
The ACTU is seeking to build opposition to cutting weekend penalty rates through a mass door-knock in marginal seats across Australia in mid-September, while employer associations are pushing crossbench senators to back the Government's bill to re-establish the ABCC.
The High Court has refused the CFMEU special leave to challenge last year's Victorian Court of Appeal finding that the Boral group could rely on the tort of intimidation to recover millions in damages for concrete supply bans.
ACTU executive member Linda White has told ACTU Congress delegates that it is no longer good enough for union leadership to be dominated by the “grey beards” sharing the stage with her.
The ACTU’s Congress has today endorsed a three-year, $13 million political campaign strategy will use unexploited seams of “gold” data held by unions, combined with boots on the ground in 35 marginal seats.
Unions have learnt from the significant mistake they made when they dismantled the landmark Your Rights At Work campaign after Labor won the 2007 election, ACTU secretary Dave Oliver said today.
The ACTU has released polling for six marginal federal seats that shows three-quarters of voters believe the Abbott Government is not doing enough on employment security and job creation.
ACTU secretary Dave Oliver has used a behind-closed-doors speech to call for employers to work with unions on a "new vision for jobs in Australia" rather than supporting the Abbott Government's IR agenda.
