The CFMEU and its former construction and general division Queensland branch president David Hanna have been fined more than $37,000 for threatening to continue industrial action against a construction company unless it agreed to a secret deal, with the court finding the union had a boundless disregard for the law.
The AWU suspects that iron ore mining giant Fortescue Metals Group is set to move its production workforce onto a newly-approved non-union agreement for a related entity.
Private sector enterprise agreements approved in the September quarter paid an average wage rise of 3.4% a year, after construction deals providing substantial annual increases helped to lifted bargained wage deals out of the doldrums, new Department of Employment data reveals.
The CFMEU says it will push for members to reject Rio Tinto's latest offer for 700 workers at its Hail Creek coking coal mine, as it accuses the company of using a $10,000 sweetener to push through a proposal not materially different to an offer the workforce rejected in 2014.
The Federal Court has found that the CEPU breached a former organiser's employment contract but didn't take adverse action when it cut his pay after former southern states branch leader Kevin Harkins allegedly told him if he didn't like it he could "f-ck off and there's the door".
The ABCC has failed in an attempt to convince a full Federal Court to deny CFMEU construction and general division Queensland branch secretary Michael Ravbar an entry permit because of his responsibility for the union's "culture of wilful disobedience".
The Turnbull Government has been lambasted by the ACTU and state premiers after rejecting the push at today's COAG meeting for all modern awards to include paid domestic violence leave, Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk decrying it as a "missed opportunity".
The MUA may be forced to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation and penalties after the FWO commenced legal action against the union for allegedly organising unlawful, week-long industrial action at Sydney and Brisbane ports last year.
