Agreements and bargaining page 176 of 177

The Abbott Government has presented its first tranche of changes to the Fair Work Act to Parliament today, including proposals to free up greenfields impasses, expand the subject matter of IFAs, wind back the ALP's right of entry changes and require bargaining before protected action.

Rail company Aurizon has locked out its freight drivers in NSW's Hunter Valley in response to their 48-hour strike that began at midday yesterday.

The FWC has ordered the United Firefighters' Union to comply with good faith bargaining obligations in its negotiations with Victoria's Country Fire Authority, while the union has lodged an appeal against the Federal Court's ruling that clauses requiring the CFA to employ additional firefighters and conduct recruitment are unconstitutional.

The MUA and AMMA are accusing each other of shifting the goalposts in the drawn-out bargaining round for vessel operators in the offshore oil and gas industry, with the union to begin a 48-hour stoppage at pacesetting Tidewater Marine on Friday.

Changes to greenfields agreement provisions in the bill expected to be introduced by Employment Minister Eric Abetz next week will cut negotiation time from five months to three for major projects and cut business administration costs by $14.4 million a year, according to his department's regulation impact statement.

The union covering Hunter Valley coal haulage drivers who are planning to strike next week is ignoring BHP Billiton threats of potential third party legal action and will instead today write to the mining giant to seek its support in resolving the dispute with rail operator Aurizon.

*FWC receives first bullying claims
*Scope of 4 yearly modern award review to be discussed next month
*FWC amends award super clauses to comply with MySuper obligations
*Undertakings would change trucking EA too much

The FWC has rejected two proposed enterprise agreements because the notices of representational rights provided to employees included extra information that rendered them invalid.

Crown Melbourne's dealers have won immediate pay rises of up to 18%, under the latest enterprise agreement covering the casino group's 4500 hospitality workers.

Toyota Australia will now have to undertake a "two-step process" to remove "uncompetitive" clauses from its enterprise agreement, after the Federal Court's Justice Mordy Bromberg this afternoon issued an injunction halting a ballot that was to open at midnight.