A construction company has failed in its bid to stop potential strikes amid claims of union interference in the protected action ballot process, the FWC pointing out that it cannot make orders preventing industrial action yet to be endorsed or notified.
In a significant judgment on the FWC's powers, a full Federal Court has today dismissed a major hospitality group's claim that a Commission bench exhibited bias when it voiced its concerns about an already-approved agreement ultimately revealed to have been voted up by three venue managers and a payroll employee not covered by it.
In a decision with echoes of the CFMEU's failed opposition to a controversial non-union power industry deal that went all the way to a full Federal Court, the FWC has approved a civil construction agreement after rejecting the union's "granular" approach to explaining its terms.
The FWC has urged the Defence Department to send "an authorised and properly instructed representative" to deadlocked bargaining negotiations at the Australian Submarine Corporation.
Union support has not proved enough for a clutch of CBA workers to have their zombie AWAs extended, after a FWC full bench accepted the bank's efforts to ameloriate any losses arising from transferring to its existing enterprise agreement.
The AMWU has failed to persuade a FWC bench to prolong the life of a near-20-year-old zombie deal while it attempts to capitalise on a majority support determination forcing long-time nemesis Cochlear to the bargaining table.
An "ineluctable finding" that the AFAP could not persuade pilot members at a Qantas subsidiary to vote up a new deal supported by the union has helped convince the FWC that it should make an intractable bargaining declaration sought by the airline.
In a significant decision acknowledged as potentially being viewed as "undemocratic", a FWC full bench majority has found it has the power to make a workplace determination on contested bargaining matters after a deal has already been approved by the Commission.
A full High Court has refused Catholic school employers leave to appeal a "systemic[ally] importan[t]" finding that employees who resign before a new agreement's retrospective pay rises come into effect are entitled to back pay.
