The trial of the ACCC's secondary boycott case against the CFMEU construction and general division's Victorian branch has been delayed until September, to avoid clashing with the controversial blackmail charges against union leaders John Setka and Shaun Reardon.
FWC accepts PC report as submission rather than evidence; Heerey report due at end of month; Patrick talks continuing; Productivity portfolio dropped in Turnbull's reshuffle; and MUA tells members not to respond to FWO overtures.
RMIT academic Professor Anthony Forsyth has told a forum on the Heydon Royal Commission that he has shifted his position on whether a specialist regulator of unions and employer organisations is justified, and now believes unions should accept the Coalition's proposed Registered Organisations Commission.
Unions are considering a push into new areas, offering online campaigning and basic services that would cost workers $1 to $2 a week, under a radical plan to rebuild membership density.
ACTU secretary Dave Oliver says unions need to adopt "radical thinking" when it comes to union mergers and alternative membership models, citing his AFL club's "seven different types of membership" as one potential template.
Key crossbench senators have sided with Labor and the Greens to delay a vote on legislation to re-establish the ABCC until at least the middle of March.
The flight attendants' union has left itself open to a civil penalty after the FWC's general manager refused to extend time for it to lodge documents for its elections.
The Turnbull Government will tomorrow re-introduce legislation to re-establish the ABCC, aiming to win enough support from the Senate crossbenchers for it be passed by early March.
