In a decision clarifying the extent to which employers can address shortcomings in order to finalise an agreement already voted on, the FWC has approved a black coal deal opposed by the CFMMEU after accepting it would not be "substantially" changed by 14 undertakings.
An FWC full bench has clarified when non-bargaining representatives opposing agreement approvals have a right to be heard, clearing the way for the CFMMEU to test whether a wrongly-declared representative is incapable of being covered by a deal.
An FWC bench has quashed a newly-minted deal after finding that the union challenging its approval was denied a chance to address the employer's response to its concerns.
In the latest FWC decision contemplating whether "minor" procedural or technical errors stand in the way of approving an agreement, a senior tribunal member has shot down a deal that delivered workers a 13% pay rise but relied on them accessing the underlying award via the internet.
RAFFWU will object to the FWC's approval of a new McDonald's deal voted up by an historically-low 59% majority, as it attempts to clear the way to terminate the burger giant's nominally expired 2013 agreement and claw back more than $250 million in alleged underpayments.
Newly-installed IR Minister Christian Porter has singled out the ailing enterprise bargaining system as one of his first priorities, highlighting the need to reduce "complexities" standing in the way of agreement-making.
A senior FWC member has told an IR conference that problems associated with a "radical disjunct" between the common law and award definitions of casuals will "snowball" if not resolved, while the cause of stunted wage growth in the face of strong labour market conditions lies beyond orthodox thinking.
A tribunal member has decided against involving the federal police in the case of a persistent applicant who accused him of corruption, further refusing to be "thrown off [his] game" by the man's "transphobic" references to him.
The FWC has held that an agreement negotiated with two train drivers but set to cover an entire transferred workforce on the Roy Hill Pilbara mine network was not genuinely agreed, but it is asking whether this is a minor error that can be dealt with via an undertaking, "odd as that may be".
