The Federal Court has thrown out a challenge by Victorian HSU leaders to the Fair Work Commission's inquiry into allegations that the union rorted the right of entry permit system.
The Fair Work Commission adjourned its inquiry into HSU Victorian No 1 branch entry permit applications this morning after branch general manager Kimberley Kitching indicated she would seek an urgent Federal Court order to compel the tribunal to rule on her argument that it has no jurisdiction to conduct the review.
The Federal Court has fined the CFMEU's construction and general division and five of its officials more than $150,000 for contravening right of entry laws, prompting FWBC director Nigel Hadgkiss to state that entry permits are a "privilege", and not a licence to act unlawfully.
A Fair Work Commission full bench has upheld a decision to refuse a Queensland building union official an entry permit, while a senior member has stayed the suspension of permits for 12 other officers.
In a wide-ranging judgment on federal right of entry laws, a senior FWC member has ruled that parties need to pay more than "lip service" to the requirement to agree on meeting rooms for union discussions with workers, and has warned a CFMEU employee that he needs to take "stock of his conduct".
The Fair Work Commission has granted right of entry permits to a union branch secretary who initially failed to disclose that his previous one had been suspended for three months after an altercation with a union member, and to an organiser who visited 90 sites after his last permit expired.
FWBC has launched Federal Court proceedings against CFMEU construction division national president David Hanna over an alleged breach of right of entry laws.
Business groups are pushing the Abbott Government to drop a requirement in its Fair Work amendments that the FWC take account of prevailing industry standards in approving employer proposals to resolve deadlocked greenfields negotiations, in submissions to a Senate inquiry.
A Fair Work Commission full bench has clarified the circumstances in which the tribunal can use its own-motion powers to impose restrictions on unions that have abused their entry rights.
The FWBC's application for an interlocutory injunction to stop the CFMEU taking industrial action at the $400 million Bald Hills Wind Farm project in South Gippsland was headed off yesterday when the union gave an undertaking to the Federal Court not to disrupt work on the site.
