The Federal Treasury used a "cabinet sensitive" briefing to urge newTreasurer Scott Morrison to boost labour market flexibility, seizing the opportunity presented by the Productivity Commission's review of Australia's workplace system.
Victoria Police have today charged CFMEU construction and general division Victorian branch secretary John Setka and his deputy Shaun Reardon with blackmail, for allegedly pressuring concrete supplier Boral over its relationship with the builder Grocon.
Former NUW NSW branch secretary Derrick Belan has rejected legal arguments by his old union that he was largely responsible for its governance problems.
CFMEU national secretary Michael O'Connor has been described in Federal Parliament as the "Sepp Blatter of the union movement" by a Nationals senator in tabling affidavits by three former CFMEU officials who continue to claim they were driven out of the NSW construction branch for whistleblowing.
The CFMEU's mining and energy division says that workers at some Queensland coal mines have engaged in "safety walk-offs" after this week's reports about the re-emergence of black lung disease.
As Parliament prepares to rise for the year, the Turnbull Government has introduced legislation containing the provisions removed from the Fair Work Act amending legislation that came into effect last week.
The AWU and Cleanevent are awaiting a Federal Court ruling on their legal tussle over the modern award to cover cleaners at the Spotless group subsidiary.
The High Court has today unanimously found that an employer breached the Fair Work Act's anti-sham contracting provisions when it misrepresented an employment relationship as one of independent contracting.