Industrial action page 42 of 42

The Federal Court has ordered the CFMEU (construction and general division) and WA branch assistant secretary Joe McDonald to pay a total of $193,600 for their part in an unlawful stopwork at a Pilbara site.

Fair Work Building and Construction chief executive Leigh Johns has challenged those who say the inspectorate should have intervened in the Grocon Supreme Court proceedings to identify the powers it could have relied upon, while the main players are about to head back for more talks with FWA President, Justice Iain Ross.

The ACTU has called on the panel reviewing the Fair Work Act to discard submissions from peak employer bodies, on the basis that they have failed to address the terms of reference and are seeking to reinstate features of Work Choices. Meanwhile, BHP Billiton has urged the panel to throw out union proposals to specifically allow entry to lunchrooms and to recognise the legitimacy of pattern bargaining.

MUA workers who stopped a vessel on the North West shelf Gorgon project from sailing because of concerns about the status of some crew members' immigration visas might have considered there were good social or community reasons for doing so, but it was still unprotected industrial action, Fair Work Australia has held.