A full Federal Court has today ushered in a new age in which union officials are held personally liable for breaching IR laws, ordering a CFMMEU organiser to pay almost $20,000 from his own pocket for his role in disrupting work at a construction site in 2013.
A judge has today comprehensively rejected an FWO attempt to rewrite the way courts assess fines for unlawful strikes, ordering the CFMMEU's MUA division to pay $38,000 for a solitary contravention after the watchdog sought $3.6 million in penalties for more than 500 breaches.
In a significant ruling that might reduce penalties regulators can win for Fair Work Act breaches, the Federal Court has found that the legislation's double jeopardy provision prevents the imposition of separate fines for related contraventions arising from the same conduct.
The MUA is facing substantial penalties after the Federal Court today found it orchestrated unlawful industrial action at Hutchison's Port Botany and Brisbane container terminals in 2015, unleashing "every tool available" when confronted with "what it perceived to be an existential threat".
The NSW Court of Appeal has reserved judgment on the PSA's challenge to a record $84,000 fine for contravening court orders and pressing ahead with a Valentine's Day strike in protest at the State Government's plans to privatise disability support work.
A full Federal Court has fined the CFMEU $300,000 and the CEPU $130,000 over a 2011 industrial campaign; penalties that are almost three times higher than originally sought by the construction watchdog.
The RTBU says public bus drivers across Sydney who today wore mufti and refused to collect fares to protest privatisation plans were unaware of a NSW IRC order overnight demanding that it direct members not to engage in any form of industrial action.
The Federal Court has imposed a $2,500 fine on CFMEU construction and general division national secretary Dave Noonan, over unlawful conduct that halted work at Perth's $1.2 billion children's hospital project in 2013.
Qube Logistics has today taken the first steps toward pursuing about 30 employees over bans on loading and unloading containers at the Port Botany facility of its half-owned operation, Patrick Stevedores.
