The Australian Football League is arguing that its 120 media employees are not operationally and organisationally distinct from the rest of its workforce, as it tries to defeat a push by the MEAA for a majority support determination.
Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie says FWC expert panel member Tim Harcourt is still playing politics despite being counselled by tribunal president Iain Ross that some of his public comments are inconsistent with the Commission's code of conduct.
A FWC full bench has ruled that in assessing whether reinstatement is appropriate in an unfair dismissal case, the tribunal should not take into account any ill-will arising from continuing legal proceedings between an employee and an employer.
In an important ruling on the definition of industrial action, the Federal Court has held that the provision of sensitive information to the media by employees is not "protected" under the Fair Work Act and might leave them vulnerable to breach of contract and coercion claims.
A five-day strike at Mermaid Marine's Dampier supply base has emerged as a test of how employers and employees adapt to the winding down of major offshore resources construction projects.
Another High Court case on the Fair Work Act's protections for employees engaged in union activity might not be far away, according to a leading IR academic, after the CFMEU's appeal against the Federal Court's BHP Coal "scab-sign" ruling was this morning rejected by a 3-2 majority.
RMIT honorary professor and long-serving IR academic Breen Creighton says Australian labour law legislation has been characterised by knee-jerk responses to non-existent problems, a lack of willingness to allow existing laws to deal with issues, and "political opportunism", which explains why the major statute had been amended five times a year on average since 2009.
A High Court majority has dismissed the CFMEU's appeal against the Federal Court's decision that BHP Coal did not take adverse action when it dismissed a union delegate when he waved an "anti-scab" sign on a union picket.
