The ACCC's landmark criminal cartel case against the CFMMEU and its construction and general division ACT branch secretary, Jason O'Mara, has been set down for a two-week committal hearing starting in mid-February, while the regulator has secured anti-price-fixing undertakings from roofing contractors it caught out on Facebook.
The ACCC will argue a Federal Court judge mistakenly found Employsure advertising would not mislead businesses into thinking it is a government agency, in an appeal lodged this week.
A new ACCC class exemption for small businesses wanting to collectively bargain is a "big step forward" for gig economy workers and others classified as independent contractors, but it comes with significant limitations, according to IR academics.
The ACCC's five-pronged case against Employsure over alleged misrepresentations and unfair contracts has been tossed out, the Federal Court crucially accepting that its target audience is confined to employers rather than a broader category including workers.
In court hearings that started this week into ACCC allegations that Employsure misled businesses into thinking it is associated with the FWO or the FWC, the employment advice provider is refuting claims it trapped them in unfair contracts.
The Federal Court will next month convene a hearing for an ACCC prosecution of employment advice provider Employsure for allegedly misleading small business operators into believing it was the FWO or the FWC or was connected to them.
The MEAA has called for the ACCC to block the proposed merger of the Nine Network with Fairfax Media on public interest grounds, while demanding the retention of employees' terms and conditions as the new entity seeks $50 million in savings.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has quietly established a special unit that has multiple investigations afoot in the commercial construction industry.
The ETU has referred ACCC chair Rod Sims to the public service watchdog, claiming he breached his duty to remain impartial when he publicly backed former WA premier Colin Barnett's plans to privatise the state's electricity supplier in the lead-up to this month's election.
Senator Malcolm Roberts says he has won backing from the Pauline Hanson's One Nation party room to investigate further IR changes by "working with the Turnbull Government".