Hardline employer-clientele law firm Seyfarth Shaw developed an aggressive bargaining strategy for Victoria's Country Fire Authority that aimed to replace a culture of UFU "veto and control" with "consultation and influence", documents published by the Senate reveal.
The FWC has approved an agreement for 2,000 staffers for members of Federal Parliament, despite union claims it was not genuinely agreed because "voting irregularities" caused by the electronic voting system disenfranchised substantial numbers of workers.
The FWC has rejected a bid for bargaining orders to stop an agreement going to ballot, finding the employer was entitled to "draw a line in the sand" and refuse further negotiations.
The FWC has approved an agreement struck with three underground mineworkers that exposes them to fines for failing to comply with directions and safety procedures but provides hourly rates up to 35% higher than the award and up to $28,000 a year in bonus payments.
The FWC has confirmed it has the power to determine a dispute between labour supplier WorkPac and the CFMEU over pay cuts at a Rio Tinto coal mine, but its intervention is conditional on the union naming the employees involved.
An Emirates group subsidiary is planning to cut pay and conditions for its ground crew at Australian airports, the ASU has alleged in a submission to a Senate inquiry.
An undertaking that enabled employees who believed they had been underpaid to seek a reconciliation did not create "an enforceable right to any payment", an FWC full bench has ruled in overturning the approval of an enterprise agreement.
As a new agreement covering Coca-Cola Amatil's expanding Queensland manufacturing operations awaits consideration in the FWC, United Voice has accused the employer of closing its South Australian plant to take advantage of the lower-paying northern state deal.
The SA branch of the IEU and employers have conceded defeat after almost two years of bitter negotiations for a new deal covering the state's Catholic schools, with both withdrawing their claims and settling on backdated pay rises aligned with those in government schools.
After clashing over workload protections for teachers and support workers in more than 500 NSW and ACT Catholic schools, the Independent Education Union is seeking to take industrial action and negotiate agreements directly with 11 dioceses rather than make the multi-enterprise agreement sought by the Catholic Commission for Employment Relations.
