Industrial action/disputes page 46 of 81

The Federal court system faces an unprecedented half-day strike by support staff this afternoon over stalled pay negotiations which have left them without a rise for four years.

The majority of a full High Court has today found that parts of Tasmania's laws against workplace protests in forestry and related areas are invalid because they offend the Constitution's implied freedom of political communication.

The FWC has found it has no basis to suspend industrial action by CEPU members at the Australian Submarine Corporation, because a campaign of 162 half-hour stopworks is yet to begin, but has warned it would be likely to issue orders to provide for an agreement ballot in a strike-free environment if circumstances change.

An FWC full bench has upheld a decision that found workers should be paid for unworked overtime hours under an inclement weather provision that applies to enterprise agreements across the Icthys LNG project near Darwin.

Mining giant Glencore has extended a 100-day lockout at the Oaky North coal mine amid complaints over abusive behaviour on the picket line.

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.

The High Court has reserved judgment after this week hearing regional airline Rex's challenge to a union's entitlement to represent the industrial interests of eligible non-members as it pursues an adverse action claim on behalf of cadet pilots and prospective employees.

The Federal Court has imposed record fines totalling more than $2.4 million against the CFMEU national and NSW branches and nine officials over breaches at Barangaroo in 2014, but says that without "legislative action" even higher penalties currently available under the law might not deter the militant union.

In the first test of whether Queensland's laws regulating peaceful assemblies can be used to block pickets and protests during industrial disputes, the state's Supreme Court has rejected mining company Glencore's argument that such activities can't be authorised.

The FWC has implored a barrister to urge his client to "at least consider" engaging with employees, after conceding it has no jurisdiction to deal with a dispute over a "double standard" on redundancy packages between blue and white-collar workers.