The High Court has this morning refused a CFMEU bid for special leave to challenge a full Federal Court majority ruling that increased penalties twelve-fold after after accepting that it could not treat a "lawful request" or a party's motivation for taking coercive industrial action as a mitigating factor when determining fines.
The High Court has reserved judgment after this week hearing regional airline Rex's challenge to a union's entitlement to represent the industrial interests of eligible non-members as it pursues an adverse action claim on behalf of cadet pilots and prospective employees.
The Federal Court has imposed record fines totalling more than $2.4 million against the CFMEU national and NSW branches and nine officials over breaches at Barangaroo in 2014, but says that without "legislative action" even higher penalties currently available under the law might not deter the militant union.
In the first test of whether Queensland's laws regulating peaceful assemblies can be used to block pickets and protests during industrial disputes, the state's Supreme Court has rejected mining company Glencore's argument that such activities can't be authorised.
The FWC has implored a barrister to urge his client to "at least consider" engaging with employees, after conceding it has no jurisdiction to deal with a dispute over a "double standard" on redundancy packages between blue and white-collar workers.
The High Court has reserved its decision on parallel appeals by Esso and the AWU questioning what constitutes a breach of bargaining orders and whether a breach during bargaining means future protected action is not possible.
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 FWC has temporarily restrained a union from taking industrial action after accepting it was not genuinely seeking an agreement when a delegate made the "somewhat unusual" suggestion that the company shift its workers to a labour supply or contracting arrangement managed by him.