The Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association is at the pointy end of a bid for an intractable bargaining declaration to break an alleged "impasse" in negotiations on behalf of Qantas engineers in Tamworth, with the Flying Kangaroo and the union due to report back to the FWC this morning.
In a signal to employers that they must have systems in place to ensure they promptly provide information the FWC requires to launch a protected action ballot, the Federal Court has imposed a substantial fine on waste giant Cleanaway for a short delay in the "time-critical" process, while warning that in more egregious cases larger penalties would be warranted.
The FWC has urged the Defence Department to send "an authorised and properly instructed representative" to deadlocked bargaining negotiations at the Australian Submarine Corporation.
An "ineluctable finding" that the AFAP could not persuade pilot members at a Qantas subsidiary to vote up a new deal supported by the union has helped convince the FWC that it should make an intractable bargaining declaration sought by the airline.
In a significant decision acknowledged as potentially being viewed as "undemocratic", a FWC full bench majority has found it has the power to make a workplace determination on contested bargaining matters after a deal has already been approved by the Commission.
Qantas subsidiary Network Aviation looks likely to win an intractable bargaining declaration, after unions' last-minute decision not to oppose it, ahead of a hearing today.
A FWC full bench has granted the TWU an intractable bargaining declaration at a second Cleanaway site, in Wollongong, ahead of a hearing to consider a determination for the waste giant's Erskine Park site in April.
The FWC has refused to order a TWU delegate to provide Cleanaway Operations with details of a post in a private Facebook group that is supporting waste workers' fight against "Big Blue", finding it irrelevant to the union's IBD bid against the company, which a full bench started hearing today.
A FWC full bench is set to hear the TWU and waste giant Cleanaway on a workplace determination for the company's Erskine Park site in April, after a 14-day post-IBD negotiating period met expectations that it wouldn't lead to agreement.
Closing Loopholes 2 provisions that substantially increase penalties for breaching the Fair Work Act should prompt employers to consider boosting their investment in payroll systems and checking compliance, Adelaide University Professor of Law Andrew Stewart says.
