Bench says employer's "bland" description no help to BOOT assessment; FWC takes chainsaw to gardener's sacking; and Tribunal rejects bid to require witness to appear in person.
The South Australian branch of the AWU has refused to participate in a hearing into a major grain company's successful agreement termination bid, telling the FWC it has "no confidence" in a legal process for employer terminations that unfairly bolsters their bargaining position.
FWC President Iain Ross has rebuffed an application by retailer Aldi to have a full Federal Court review the rejection of its agreement because of a deficient bargaining notice.
Almost two years after an agreed deadline to review a fiercely-contested productivity measure was "overlooked", an FWC full bench majority has upheld the tribunal's right to revisit its impact on workers.
Two new information sheets issued by the Registered Organisations Commission spell out the penalties for reprisals against whistleblowers and details of looming benefits disclosure requirements for bargaining representatives.
The High Court has directed an FWC full bench to re-determine whether a controversial Aldi agreement for a new distribution centre passes the better off overall test, but it has agreed with the retailer that deals covering new enterprises can extend to employees yet to work there.
The CFMEU says it is confident in its challenge to an agreement Thiess struck with three maintenance workers prior to securing a major mining contract, after a full Federal Court remitted the employer's appeal on the basis that an FWC full bench wrongly denied the union "the fruits of its victory".
In a decision signalling potential judicial pushback against so-called "sham" agreements, a Federal Court has quashed a two-year-old deal approved by three employees that now covers more than 1000 mining services workers, ruling that the employer made inadequate efforts to explain a document benchmarked against 11 different awards.
Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said last night that she made an offer to the Opposition to split-off into a separate Bill elements of the "four-yearly review" legislation that enable the FWC to overlook technical and minor errors in agreements, after tribunal president Iain Ross twice wrote asking her to urgently secure its passage.
The Fair Work Commission says its failure to meet timeliness targets for agreement approvals is partly due to the delay in passage of the Turnbull Government's legislation that would enable it to overlook minor or technical flaws in proposed deals.
