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.
The new Registered Organisation Commission is investigating $125,000 in payouts to former officials of the CEPU's Tasmanian branch, Senate estimates have been told.
A full Federal Court has described as "astounding" a CFMEU argument that it should not be held liable for organisers' unauthorised entries to building sites because the alleged contraventions should be viewed as an exercise of "power", rather than of a "right" defined by the Fair Work Act.
The Federal Court has today ordered former TWU WA branch secretaries Jim McGiveron and Rick Burton to pay more than $65,000 in penalties, mostly for their roles in purchasing two "luxury utes" for their personal use and arranging a redundancy payment of almost $400,000 to McGiveron.
The new standalone regulator for registered organisations will start operating on Monday, May 1, with its new powers taking effect by the following day.
The timetable for having the Registered Organisations Commission up and running appears to have slipped, with a new target adopted for it to be in place by the end of June.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has this afternoon introduced legislation that outlaws payments of "corrupting benefits" to unions and imposes penalties on those who provide or receive such payments.
The NUW has today asked its former NSW leader Derrick Belan about evidence he gave to the Heydon Royal Commission, as it defends his brother Nick's unfair dismissal claim in the FWC.
The FWC has ordered a new organisation for workers employed by Korean businesses to disclose its membership list to employer associations and unions opposing its expanding application for registration as a union.
The Turnbull Government has confirmed it will make a submission to the Fair Work Commission on how to handle the transition to lower penalty rates in the retail and hospitality sectors.
