The AWU's Hair Stylists Australia has deployed its first paid organiser to tackle the "widespread cultural problem" of underpayments as the FWO pursues another hairdressing industry scalp on behalf of a teenage apprentice short-changed $14,500.
BlueScope is seeking to bolster a proposed three-year agreement at its Port Kembla steel operations with a guaranteed $4000 pre-payment from a new profit share scheme.
The union leading the campaign against prospective job losses at a major brewery is at risk of being sidelined after the FWC found it "reached the line between [unacceptably careless disregard] and. . . deliberate non-compliance" in failing to communicate restraining notices to members.
In an instructive decision on the treatment of post-dismissal medical evidence, an FWC full bench has thrown out the appeal of a prison officer declared fit after being sacked on medical grounds, while again taking a swipe at his union's handling of the matter.
The Federal Court has heard that "another agency" is now involved in the Federal Police investigation into media leaks about last year's raids on the AWU's offices.
An FWC full bench has quashed a finding that BHP Coal should have kept paying or considered alternative duties for a mineworker while his driving licence was suspended, saying it would be tantamount to requiring an employer to excuse from duties but pay workers who turned up drunk.
On the second of 16 days of FWC hearings into an IEU equal pay claim for early childhood teachers, the union is blaming low wages for a skill shortage in the overwhelmingly female-dominated sector, while the ACTU says the case will test whether the Fair Work Act's equal pay principle can deliver.
The UFU's Victorian branch has defended using debt collectors to pursue unpaid dues from some members, who reportedly objected to paying an annual levy to fund the union's litigation costs.
