Industrial action/disputes page 54 of 81

An FWC full bench has held that an employer is entitled to make workers redundant as part of a restructure to manage loss or damage caused by protected industrial action.

The FWC has declined AGL's request for an order to stop what it suspects is industrial action by employees at its Loy Yang A power plant in Victoria after it was unable to secure enough employees to work overtime, leading to the company being unable to bring two of its four power generating units back online on the weekend.

The FWC has granted MUA WA branch secretary Chris Cain a new entry permit but has warned that any breaches would undermine his credibility, making it "extraordinarily difficult" for him to continue to be deemed a "fit and proper" person.

The CPSU and Department of Border Protection return to the FWC next week for conciliation of their draft workplace determination, while employees of three APS agencies have again rejected offers.

The CFMEU and its former construction and general division Queensland branch president David Hanna have been fined more than $37,000 for threatening to continue industrial action against a construction company unless it agreed to a secret deal, with the court finding the union had a boundless disregard for the law.

The MUA may be forced to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation and penalties after the FWO commenced legal action against the union for allegedly organising unlawful, week-long industrial action at Sydney and Brisbane ports last year.

The long-running dispute at Carlton & United Breweries has ended with the reinstatement of maintenance workers on their former pay and conditions.

Protracted negotiations over oil and gas agreements in the Bass Strait have moved a step closer to arbitration following the Victorian Government's application to terminate bargaining in the face of looming strike action.

The CFMEU's mining and energy division has flagged that its members will take protected industrial action at Victoria's Loy Yang power station within the next month.

A Senate inquiry has urged Public Service Minister Michaelia Cash to intervene in the federal public sector bargaining dispute and soften the "intransigent" Coalition's "brutally hard-line" bargaining policy by relaxing the 2% wages cap and removing the prohibition on backpay, but Government senators have flatly rejected the recommendations.