The FWC has refused to suspend engineers' industrial action at a Virgin Australia subsidiary while their employer pursues an intractable bargaining declaration, in an early test of the new Secure Jobs provision.
The MUA says crew working on ships servicing key offshore gas operations have stopped protected action over their workplace compensation arrangements, but maritime employers have warned the struggle to find insurers is an industry-wide problem.
The income and compensation caps for unfair dismissal claims are set to increase on Saturday, along with filing fees for a range of other applications.
Resources giant Santos has been ordered to pay $65,000 to a worker sacked for telling a contractor to "take a sickie" during a strike, the FWC finding the dismissal harsh after weighing his long and unblemished career.
The FWC's national practice leader for bargaining has started the clock on compulsory conciliation while a strike vote is conducted, having also used one of the first applications under new workplace laws to suggest that while the "recency" of the provisions made a case for endorsing an unapproved ballot agent, the bar will be higher in future.
NTEU members have voted to escalate industrial action, including another state-wide strike, if Victorian universities maintain their refusal to of union demands to replace most casual jobs with permanent positions.
A judge has overcome his irritation at being asked to rule on an "arid debate" to find the now-defunct ABCC did not exceed its powers when it initiated its first case against the CFMMEU's maritime division over alleged death threats against workers attempting to cross a picket line.
The UFU's Victorian branch has won the first round of Federal Court proceedings in which it alleges a senior State Labor minister engaged in coercive conduct while intervening in a case before the FWC.
As the FWC prepares for the Secure Jobs's bargaining and industrial action components to start on June 6, it has signalled that it plans to devote a substantial amount of members' time to the new mandatory pre-industrial-action conferences to try to facilitate agreements and will expect a similar commitment from parties.
Law firm Ashurst says the looming multi-employer bargaining laws might explain the results of a survey in which 65% of employers say they intend to initiate agreement negotiations in the next six months.