Wesfarmers has avoided having chief executive Richard Goyder put on the witness stand ahead of the FWC later this year hearing Penny Vickers' bid to terminate its 2011 supermarkets agreement, after a full bench accepted that the parent company had no role in approving the retailer's 2014 enterprise deal.
In a case likely to have ramifications for hundreds of existing enterprise deals, the High Court has reserved its decision in Aldi's appeal against a decision knocking out a controversial agreement on the basis it was agreed by prospective employees not yet covered by it.
The Department of Employment has told a Senate inquiry that almost two-thirds of large fast food, retail, hospitality and pharmacy deals pay less than the award for Sunday work.
New data shows the Fair Work Commission's "triage" process for assessing whether enterprise agreements pass the Better Off Overall Test is resulting in closer scrutiny of workplace deals.
An FWC full bench has quashed an agreement struck with five Sigma Healthcare recruits, finding the NUW had been denied natural justice when the pharmaceuticals giant failed to provide it with its application for approval on the basis that the union had ceased to be a bargaining representative.
The FWC today gave a strong signal that it is anxious to bring to a head Coles employee Penny Vickers' bid to terminate the supermarket giant's enterprise agreement, acknowledging criticism that the case had dragged on before granting the night-fill worker an extension to supply supporting documents.
A lower court has asked the Federal Court to distinguish between "jurisdiction" and "powers" after wrestling with the question in a case where a union accused an employer of breaching its enterprise agreement and the employer counter-claimed that the agreement was not genuinely agreed.
Loy Yang power station and mine workers have conceded the possibility of forced redundancies and increased use of contractors in exchange for annual 5% pay rises in voting up a new enterprise agreement with operators AGL Energy.
The CFMEU will stage a national day of protest next week as tensions rise in the construction industry over the coming deadline for having code-compliant agreements to avoid being barred from winning Commonwealth-funded contracts.
An FWC full bench has found it "reasonably arguable" that Coles should have known a 2014 agreement negotiated with the SDA could not satisfy the BOOT when it applied for Commission approval.
