ETU members employed at the NSW electricity distributor Essential Energy have overwhelmingly endorsed protected work bans and stoppages, which they can begin activating next week.
The Turnbull Government is seeking to make a direct link between the Heydon Royal Commission's findings and the ABCC legislation that looks set to be a double-dissolution trigger, but there is no concrete policy connection between the two, according to a leading IR academic.
Struggling steelmaker and iron ore miner Arrium has asked its employees to accept temporary pay cuts as part of a cost-cutting program aimed at keeping it afloat.
Tug operator Svitzer has moved to a single national agreement, after the FWC rejected objections from one of three unions that the company had unfairly selected the employees to be covered.
Patrick and the MUA have today begun four days of assisted negotiations, despite an FWC full bench yesterday clearing the way for the union to resume industrial action.
Some 35,000 Department of Human Services employees began voting on Friday on a proposed deal delivering a 2% annual pay rise, while the FWC has recently approved agreements for three mid-sized APS agencies providing the same quantum to about 8,500 employees.
The new enterprise agreement between Hutchison Ports and the MUA provides for greater use of casual labour and for negotiations on longer working hours as shipping container volumes rise.