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.
The Turnbull Government has used its submission to the annual wage review to reinforce its argument that minimum wage increases threaten jobs, despite the Fair Work Commission finding in last year's review that "modest and regular increases" do not produce "disemployment" effects.
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.
The Fair Work Commission has sought to better delineate the law around so-called constructive dismissals, in a case in which it lambasted a multinational company's HR department for overseeing a process it likened to "entrapment".
In a novel decision on the need to consider alternative duties for incapacitated workers, the FWC has found an agreement clause requiring directions to be reasonable trumped BHP Coal's common law right to refuse to allow a mineworker to perform only part of his job.
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.
The FWC has observed it is "not necessary" to consider whether representation creates unfairness between parties, as a French company was granted permission to engage a lawyer to defend a self-represented employee's unfair dismissal claim.
The CFMEU has successfully challenged a conditional permit issued to one of its NSW organisers, with an FWC full bench reinstating a full permit on the basis that undertakings will have the same effect.
A presidential member of the FWC has prodded legislators to revisit "confusing" aspects of the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code in order to deliver on its promise of speeding parties' progress through the unfair dismissal jurisdiction.
