Protected action should be available to workers without the need for a secret ballot, according to the draft IR policy to be put to the ACTU's triennial Congress next week.
An order requiring the NTEU to give a university more than the statutory three days' notice of protected industrial action has been quashed by an FWC full bench that found a tribunal member wrongly presupposed that any such action would be suspended by the Commission if it interfered with student exams or graduation.
The NT Master Builders Association is citing a "heavy compliance burden" for seeking to cancel its status as a registered organisation and shift to a corporate structure, a move the Registered Organisations Commission says is now "very unusual".
In a significant decision on entry rights, a Federal Court full bench has confirmed today that a permit holder's right to hold discussions with union members or potential members during "breaks" does not include the period before and after their shifts.
Union calls for a return to industry-wide bargaining to boost workers' earnings have won the backing of the OECD, which says in its annual global employment report that negotiations across industry sectors can lead to "lower wage inequality".
The CPSU has expressed dismay after Bureau of Meteorology workers voted by a knife's edge to accept management's latest offer for a new agreement despite union opposition.
The FWC has slammed the door on a union's persistent efforts to get around coverage issues by installing an "independent" bargaining representative to conduct negotiations on behalf of Linfox tanker drivers, finding it "fanciful" to suggest he was simply acting in a private capacity.
The FWC has today rejected union arguments that a pallet service centre's agreement setting wages for "any person engaged to perform work" extends to labour hire workers.
A five-member FWC full bench has quashed the approval of a small construction company's enterprise agreement, after CFMMEU modelling suggested it left workers up to $575 a week worse off than the award, but the Commission has cited the types of undertakings that might get it across the line.
