A full Federal Court has cleared the way for the FWC to decide Esso's bid to terminate a 2011 deal covering Bass Strait offshore oil and gas workers, after the Victorian Government failed to persuade it that an FWC full bench wrongly quashed an earlier ruling to halt industrial action.
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.
Esso Australia and the AWU have resumed protracted negotiations over a new enterprise agreement covering offshore oil and gas workers in Bass Strait ahead of a February 4 hearing of the company's s225 application to terminate the existing deal.
In a desperate and highly unusual attempt to have the FWC arbitrate a long-running bargaining dispute, the IEU has unsuccessfully applied to terminate its own industrial action on the basis it poses a danger to student welfare.
The FWC has ruled that more than 100 Sydney bus drivers who called in sick on the same day last week were engaged in "covert industrial action" which must be "unequivocally condemned".
In a significant decision as to what constitutes industrial action, a full Federal Court has found that the legislative framework does not capture instances where a subcontractor's workers down tools with the support of their direct employer.
A Federal Circuit Court stoush over whether a company lawfully docked the pay of workers for attending a union meeting about on-site asbestos could hinge on whether they faced an "imminent threat" and whether the supervisor who granted permission was authorised.
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.
Victoria University is trying to head off an NTEU bid for a protected action ballot order, after professional and academic staff voted down by 77% a deal labelled "one of the worst proposals" tabled in the latest tertiary education bargaining round.
