The Heydon Royal Commission will give parties advance warning of evidence in in which they are "substantially and directly interested", under the terms of a new practice note.
The Fair Work Commission has granted an entry permit to a CFMEU construction and general division organiser, rejecting the FWBC's argument that it was obliged to give weight to the union's poor record of compliance with industrial laws.
Australia has been named as a "country of concern" at the opening of the third congress of the International Trade Union Confederation in Berlin, along with more usual targets of criticism.
There is no reason why proceedings shouldn't be launched to deregister the CFMEU's construction and general division, according to former Royal Commissioner Roger Gyles, who says NSW's Greiner-Fahey Government should have taken up his recommendation to eradicate one of its former predecessors, the NSW BWIU.
Labor and the Greens have combined in the Senate today to defeat the Abbott Government's legislation to establish a Registered Organisations Commission and align penalties for union and employer association officials with corporations law.
Former TWU national president and WA branch secretary Jim McGiveron has dismissed as "a complete fantasy" a claim by former AWU WA branch leader Ralph Blewitt that he was given $5000 cash in a brown paper bag to help win control of the transport union's state branch two decades ago.
The HSU has lodged a claim for its former national secretary Kathy Jackson to repay $246,500 in union money it alleges were transferred to an external fund that was used for political campaigning.
The Heydon Royal Commission into trade unions will begin its public hearings with the former AWU official Ralph Blewitt, in evidence that is expected to touch on the role of former Prime Minister Julia Gillard as a young lawyer.
NUW Victorian branch secretary Tim Kennedy is poised to succeed Charlie Donnelly as the union's national secretary, in the latest leadership changes at the top of the Australian labour movement.
New analysis by the ACTU argues that the real agenda of the Commission of Audit's suggested changes to the national minimum wage is to reduce the pay safety net for 1.5 million workers who receive award minimum rates.
