The Federal Court has overturned a CEPU decision to strip a long-term delegate of her union roles, after finding that two officials who heard charges against her were "invincibly biased".
In the first appeal against a Registered Organisations Commission decision, an FWC full bench has quashed the watchdog's refusal to grant a union more time to submit election information and observed that its approach to defending the case could imply "a lack of impartiality".
The High Court has confirmed that unions are entitled to run underpayment and other contravention cases for un-named classes of employees who are eligible for membership but are not members, paving the way for a pilots union to advance an adverse action claim on behalf of Regional Express cadets.
Time is running out for the Turnbull Government to pass its Bill to impose a public interest test on union mergers before the FWC considers green-lighting the CFMEU, MUA and TCFU amalgamation, with the tribunal planning to conduct a hearing in early February.
A CEPU official has alleged that fellow officials participated in hearing complaints against her after earlier making bullying and threatening telephone calls, the Federal Court has been told.
The Federal Court has today made a consent order under which the AFP will not pass on documents seized in Tuesday's raids on the AWU, and the Registered Organisations Commission will not accept them, until the union's bid to stop the investigation of the matter has been heard.
Employment Minister Michaelia Cash says one of her staffers has resigned after admitting he leaked information to the media about the AFP raids on the AWU yesterday.
Flight Attendants Association national division secretary Andrew Staniforth has withdrawn a court case against his union after it agreed to provide an opportunity for him to respond to "questions" and appoint former Unions NSW secretary Mark Lennon to investigate any subsequent allegations.
The FWC has allowed the Flight Attendants' Association to jettison plans to merge its two divisions, while a former secretary might face penalties after admitting he failed to provide budgets from 2006 to 2012.