Agreements and bargaining page 49 of 176

Major tug boat operator Svitzer Australia has gained more time to prepare its application to suspend or terminate AMOU members' protected action, which is to due to start on Thursday.

Despite AWU objections, the FWC has approved an employer's greenfields civil construction deal with rival the CFMMEU, observing that the former's historic coverage of the sector did not guarantee a place at the negotiating table.

Victoria's Andrews Labor Government will employ 2000 additional public school teachers, reduce face-to-face teaching hours and boost pay by 2% a year under a four-year deal struck with the AEU, but in NSW unions are holding out for a 10% to 15% raise.

Patrick Terminals says the four-year in-principle agreement it has struck with the MUA removes "restrictive recruitment conditions", while delivering "other much-needed flexibilities" for its four container terminals, while the MUA says it has received "assurances" on job security and has won pay rises of 2.5% or CPI, whichever is greater.

The United Workers Union is claiming a "live update" ballot service prompted a major security company to send misleading text messages and direct managers to coerce workers into voting up a new agreement, in a wide-ranging bid to block the deal's approval in the FWC.

A court has today imposed fines of 90% of the maximum on the "rogue" construction union and 80% on its Queensland leader for failing to provide 24 hours notice before officials entered a construction site for bargaining discussions with workers, after the head contractor insisted they be held off-site.

Global fast food chain Nando's has told the FWC that it risked being left with a "confusing and cumbersome" pay structure for almost 2000 employees unless it succeeded in terminating a near-14-year-old deal with an "outdated" approach to penalty rates.

Patrick stevedores' application to terminate its enterprise agreement is set to be heard by the FWC next week, in a case with far-reaching implications for work arrangements on the waterfront.

The FWC has waved away as "disingenuous" an employer's claim that it would be left with no employees if it offered award-level entitlements in a proposed deal, observing that various guarantees and undertakings are no substitute for the detail needed to properly conduct a BOOT assessment.

Mining unions have failed to convince a senior FWC member that BHP's vaccination mandate breaches the Privacy Act and that it would be reasonable to let workers confirm their inoculation status via the same check-in method they use to enter a pub.