CFMMEU national secretary Michael O'Connor has applied for Federal Court orders to immediately stop construction and general division Victorian branch leader John Setka from encouraging and inducing manufacturing division members to resign and join his operation.
New RTBU national secretary Mark Diamond will tonight use his national council dinner speech to signal a more militant approach to industrial action under his leadership, promising employers that "if you do not respect us, you will fear us".
While Metro Trains has secured a Federal Court injunction calling off industrial action that would have enabled Melbourne commuters to travel free, it now faces a four-hour stoppage that the RTBU claims to be a response to "aggressive attacks".
The TWU will today raise the spectre of nationwide airport and road freight strikes as it pursues "sector-wide rates" for 38,000 workers covered by 200 expiring enterprise agreements.
An employer association has begun probing the alliance between the AWU and the CFMMEU's MUA division that seeks to build membership in the offshore oil and gas sector, arguing that it creates a conflict of the interest for the organisers involved.
The ACTU has today launched a multi-platform advertising that urges voters to vote the Coalition out to ditch its "unAustralian" IR system and enable unions' Change the Rules agenda.
The composition and role of the Fair Work Commission "must be re-examined" due to Coalition governments appointing 20 consecutive members from an employer background, according to an internal ACTU report.
The AWU is developing a "strategic alliance" with the TWU and the SDA to cover the agricultural supply chain, aiming to build density while curbing worker exploitation.
The AWU's national leadership is pushing for a "progressive fee structure" that would involve bigger contributions from higher-paid workers and ditching the current flat-fee regime.