A former Esso union delegate who was found to be unfairly dismissed for calling a co-worker a "f___ing scab" has failed to convince an FWC Full Bench that he should be reinstated.
A full Federal Court majority has today rejected a judge's reasoning for ordering the MUA to pay a fine of just $38,000 for a week-long unlawful strike at Hutchison Ports' Sydney and Brisbane container terminals, but has rebuffed the FWO's contention that the stevedore should have been awarded $600,000 in damages it didn't seek.
A full Federal Court has upheld a finding that agreement-sanctioned union stopwork meetings can be freely used to delay and disrupt business as part of a campaign strategy, but has increased fines for the CFMMEU's coercion of head contractor Hutchison by almost 30%.
The CFMMEU's maritime division and the NRMA-owned operator of Sydney's Manly Fast Ferry service are expected to face off in the FWC this afternoon over planned stoppages that could start tomorrow, after talks this morning failed to resolve a bargaining impasse.
The FWC has rejected as "pedantic and technical" an attempt by Telstra to block industrial action it claimed was inconsistent with that endorsed by CEPU members.
Faced with a "byzantine" and bewilderingly complex bid to recoup millions of dollars in damages, the Federal Court has found the CFMMEU organised unlawful bans at the Port Botany container terminal in 2017 but suggested further mediation on relief to take a load off public resources.
The FWC has brokered a three-month truce between DP World Australia and the CFMMEU's MUA division under which the parties will resume bargaining and adopt a "neutral media stance".
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Protected industrial action will start at DP World's four container terminals on Friday in the form of work bans, followed by rolling stoppages in individual ports from next week.
The NUW claims the Chemist Warehouse group has sought to immediately break an indefinite strike, which started today at warehouses in Victoria and Queensland.
