In a decision signalling potential judicial pushback against so-called "sham" agreements, a Federal Court has quashed a two-year-old deal approved by three employees that now covers more than 1000 mining services workers, ruling that the employer made inadequate efforts to explain a document benchmarked against 11 different awards.
Qube Logistics, Patrick Stevedores and the MUA have proposed a timetable for mediation early next year ahead of hearings in August into the companies' bid to recoup damages from bans on loading and unloading containers at Port Botany this year.
The Federal Court has dismissed the nursing union's bid to stop Bupa cutting jobs, finding that 23 potential redundancies in a workforce of 3000 did not constitute a "major" change that would trigger an agreement's consultation clause.
Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said last night that she made an offer to the Opposition to split-off into a separate Bill elements of the "four-yearly review" legislation that enable the FWC to overlook technical and minor errors in agreements, after tribunal president Iain Ross twice wrote asking her to urgently secure its passage.
The Federal Court at a directions hearings on Friday will deal with multimillion dollar bids by Qube Logistics and Patrick Stevedores to sue the MUA and officials for damages as a result of bans earlier this year on loading and unloading containers at Port Botany.
The High Court has this morning refused a CFMEU bid for special leave to challenge a full Federal Court majority ruling that increased penalties twelve-fold after after accepting that it could not treat a "lawful request" or a party's motivation for taking coercive industrial action as a mitigating factor when determining fines.
A CFMEU-backed class action brought against an employer for allegedly underpaying 150 workers more than $1 million for travel time stands to recast agreement wording on the precise location where a job begins and ends.
The FWC looks set to reduce by a week its hearings into an application by Coles nightfill worker Penny Vickers to terminate the 2011 agreement, after warning that granting further extensions could render her case moot if the retailer gets a new agreement approved.
