In one of the first rulings since meal rooms became the default meeting place for union discussions with employees, the FWC has refused to issue an order giving the NUW unfettered access to workers at a Coles distribution centre, despite finding that the chain's new right of entry policy is inconsistent with the Fair Work Act.
Employment Minister Eric Abetz has vowed to take the existing legislation to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission to a vote in the Senate, arguing that Labor and the Greens would not give their support even it was amended.
In a rare instance of a court imposing the maximum penalty under the Fair Work Act, the CFMEU mining and energy division has been fined $33,000 for unlawfully implementing its overtime policy at BHP Coal's Peak Downs mine.
The Federal Court has issued a sweeping injunction to stop CFMEU construction and general division WA branch assistant secretary Joe McDonald from entering Brookfield Multiplex construction sites for nearly three years and ordered the union to pay the company $500,000 in compensation for strikes he incited at two major projects last year.
The employers of two long-term train drivers who were off work for between 18 months and two years because of health issues were entitled to dismiss them when they were ruled unable to resume driving duties, the Fair Work Commission has found.
The Fair Work Commission has removed urine testing from DP World's national drug and alcohol policy, but has also refused a union bid to impose a "three strikes" disciplinary process at four ports across the country.
South Australian Employee Ombudsman Stephen Brennan has been charged with falsifying accounts and dishonesty when secretary of the TCFU's former SA/Tasmanian branch, while the Fair Work Commission is continuing to investigate the branch's financial affairs.
The Federal Government is yet to decide whether it will introduce a FWC appeals jurisdiction, while its submission to the four-year modern award review leaves the door open for stakeholders to seek pay rises, a Senate committee has heard.
The Fair Work Commission has ruled that it is not prevented from considering behaviour that occurred before the start of the new bullying jurisdiction on January 1 this year when dealing with applications for orders to stop the conduct.
A Fair Work Commission full bench has ruled that only employees who will immediately be covered by an enterprise agreement are entitled to vote on its approval, not employees who are likely to be covered in the future.
