Container terminal operator DP World's refusal to bargain while MUA members take protected action has contributed to a FWC finding that it would not be in the public interest to suspend it for a 90-day "cooling off" period.
The TWU is asking the FWC to hear in tandem its separate bids for intractable bargaining declaration bids at two Cleanaway Waste Management sites, but the company has no truck with that view, saying the context at each location is "very different".
An employer seeking to be covered by an existing agreement could potentially "operate in a better way" if a clause granting five days leave in return for working on three public holidays is removed, but the FWC has found the change would deny employees the chance to use the entitlement as a bargaining chip.
The FWC has reserved its decision on the first contested intractable bargaining case to be heard by a single member, after service provider Ventia told the tribunal it should find negotiations for outsourced Defence aviation firefighting operations in Queensland have reached an impasse after 15 months of talks and more than 18 months of industrial action.
Shine Lawyers says the exclusion of thousands of SDA members from its McDonald's class action will "inform future interplay" between union and non-union representative proceedings, while a full court ruling has set a "powerful precedent" for using collective action to protect workers' rights.
Woolworths Group breached good faith bargaining obligations by circulating a Big W deal struck with the SDA and the AWU before giving RAFFWU a chance to consider it, but the FWC has refused to delay the vote as it would not significantly alter the offer.
A FWC full bench has refused to extend a farm's 16-year-old deal for 12 weeks beyond next month's sunsetting of zombie agreements, describing the application as an effort to pay below-award rates for "one more" onion-picking season.
WA's St John Ambulance has failed to convince the FWC that its agreement requires paramedics who are not the primary carer of a child to clock up a full year of employment before they can access eight days paid leave after a birth or adoption.
A FWC presidential member has taken a harder line on extending notice periods for protected action, rejecting Virgin Australia's bid to increase warnings of strikes and bans from three to seven days, because it would result in diminished worker bargaining power.
A lawyer for early childhood education employers involved in the sector's supported bargaining test case says that for future applications where participants are not as aligned, he suspects it will be a slow, challenging and "very cumbersome process", while a union leader in the case says the FWC is helping to bring the parties together.