Sodexo's circuitous journey to a new offshore deal has taken another turn after the FWC gave unions the go-ahead to conduct a strike ballot despite arguments that a claim for workers to be provided only vegetarian meals showed they were not bargaining genuinely.
The MUA has hit back against DP World Australia's bid to outlaw industrial action at its container ports, claiming the stevedore agreed to consider signing a deed preventing automation and outsourcing provided it had an end date.
A full Federal Court has largely dismissed the CFMMEU's broad-ranging appeal against more than $300,000 in fines imposed for attempting to force a contractor into signing a union-approved deal, agreeing only that publication orders served no purpose and that too much was made of an "eenie meenie miney mo!" text message.
The Federal Court has today ordered the AWU to pay an $18,000 penalty for pressing charges under its rules against two members who refused to support industrial action against Orica.
The FWC has granted interim orders that drivers on Melbourne's passenger train network stop refusing to drive a new section over claimed safety concerns.
The operator of Melbourne's passenger train network will return to the FWC today to press for anti-strike orders, alleging that safety concerns raised by drivers about driving along a new section of track amount to unprotected industrial action.
The FWC has issued a s418 order to stop 31 individual Orora Packaging employees taking unprotected industrial action in the form of "coordinated" personal leave that has shut down production lines.
An employer has failed to convince the FWC that suspending industrial action would improve the chances of reaching agreement before the business is transferred to a new owner.
A court's imposition of $200,000 in fines on the CFMMEU for unlawful pickets that might have caused "some very small loss of productivity" underlines the heavy sanctions construction unions face for such actions under the legislation that re-established the ABCC after the 2016 double dissolution election.