The CFMMEU's maritime division and the NRMA-owned operator of Sydney's Manly Fast Ferry service are expected to face off in the FWC this afternoon over planned stoppages that could start tomorrow, after talks this morning failed to resolve a bargaining impasse.
The FWC earlier this month halted industrial action at BP's Kwinana oil refinery after it accepted that a shutdown of up to a fortnight would be the "unavoidable and inevitable consequence" of protected bans and limitations by AWU members.
A Federal Court judge has questioned the "wisdom or fairness" of laws requiring employers to subtract four hours' pay for as little as 10 minutes unprotected action, after finding the AWU breached the Fair Work Act when an official asked a BlueScope manager not to dock returning strikers for starting a shift late.
The FWC has rejected arguments that the CFMEU engaged in pattern bargaining during negotiations over agreements with two crane operators, clearing the path for indefinite strikes to begin early this morning.
The FWC has found the RTBU organised unprotected industrial action at Queensland Rail in the lead-up to the state's River Fire Festival weekend and couched a directive discouraging members from participating "in terms that rallied" them.
The union leading the campaign against prospective job losses at a major brewery is at risk of being sidelined after the FWC found it "reached the line between [unacceptably careless disregard] and. . . deliberate non-compliance" in failing to communicate restraining notices to members.
A judge has today comprehensively rejected an FWO attempt to rewrite the way courts assess fines for unlawful strikes, ordering the CFMMEU's MUA division to pay $38,000 for a solitary contravention after the watchdog sought $3.6 million in penalties for more than 500 breaches.
The FWC is set this afternoon to hear Patrick Stevedores' application to Commission to stop alleged planned industrial action by MUA members at its Port Botany container terminal in support of maintenance workers who are about to embark on a seven-day protected strike.
The FWO is investigating protests at Melbourne's Webb Dock during the MUA's dispute with stevedore VICT which, despite Victorian Supreme Court cease-orders, continued until the worker's temporary reinstatement last Friday.
The ETU is urging politicians to attend a major rally next week in support of an illegal picket outside a Melbourne stevedore, which is ongoing despite courts orders for it to stop.
