A former abattoir worker, who received unpaid entitlements only after FWO intervention, can also seek damages for negligence after a High Court ruling today, but the NSW Court of Appeal will now need to establish who employed him.
A full shutdown of BlueScope Steel's operation in Port Kembla would double the local unemployment rate to above 15% and deliver a $3.3 billion economic hit, according to a study commissioned by the AWU.
Hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses in the private sector are increasing at a record low of 2.2% a year in trend terms, according to the ABS Wage Price Index, released today.
The ACTU is seeking to build opposition to cutting weekend penalty rates through a mass door-knock in marginal seats across Australia in mid-September, while employer associations are pushing crossbench senators to back the Government's bill to re-establish the ABCC.
Five waterfront workers have been awarded a total of $120,000 in compensation for the emotional distress they suffered after the MUA named them in "scab posters" that had them fearing for their safety.
A CommSec customer service officer placed on performance plans and counselled for breaching the company's "clean desk" policy has failed to convince the FWC he was bullied by his employer and two supervisors.
The Australian Law Reform Commission in its "freedoms" interim report has suggested that it might be "desirable" for the inquiry to closely examine whether the IR regime unjustifiably encroaches on freedom of association.
The Federal Circuit Court has fined construction company Baulderstone $25,000 for taking adverse action against a worker who resigned his CFMEU membership, along with $7000 in penalties for two HR managers who were carrying out orders and failed to "exercise their choice" to refuse to comply.
The MUA has denied it is orchestrating picket lines outside Hutchinson's Port Botany and Brisbane container terminals after the FWC issued an updated anti-strike order prohibiting it from organising further protests.
A former general manager of the CFMEU's NSW branch objected in 2005 to a proposed $100,000 "donation" from the builder Thiess Hochtief, the Heydon Royal Commission heard today.
