Victoria's Supreme Court has compelled the CFMEU to give Boral access to documents, including transcripts of interviews by competition watchdog the ACCC, to assist with its multimillion dollar damages claim for the union's bans on its concrete supplies, which will be heard next month.
The Fair Work Ombudsman is seeking individual penalties against seven seafarers who took unlawful industrial action last year when they refused for 10 days to weigh anchor for their last journey before being made redundant.
The Federal Court in fining the CFMEU $545,000 for unlawful industrial action has warned that it can't expect to keep its registration as a trade union while it "persistently abuses" its privileges.
The AWU expects employees at Esso Australia's Bass Strait oil operations to reject the company's proposed new enterprise agreements, which include shifting from seven-day to 14-day roster cycles for offshore workers.
The Federal Court has reserved its decision in a case in which Esso Australia argues that members of the AWU took unprotected industrial action, which cut its oil and gas production in Bass Strait in March and April.
The CFMEU construction and general division's "cavalier attitude" to court orders has cost it another $125,000, with the Federal Court finding it in contempt of undertakings not to block access to a Victorian wind farm project last year.
In further legal fallout from the 2012 Grocon dispute, the Federal Court has ruled that the CFMEU and eight of its officials unlawfully coerced the company to agree to its demand to employ union-nominated shop stewards when they blocked access to the Myer Emporium and McNab Avenue sites.
The High Court will in April hear the CFMEU's argument that it should not be compelled to give Boral information to help the company win its contempt case against the union for allegedly defying injunctions at Victoria's Regional Rail project.
In another instance of the FWBC's tougher stance under Nigel Hadgkiss, the inspectorate has begun Federal Court action against 23 workers accused of taking unprotected industrial action at the $1.8 billion Royal Adelaide Hospital project.
The Productivity Commission in a new report has repeated its call for governments to adopt Victorian-style procurement guidelines to regulate substandard IR conduct in the construction industry, but has warned they might need to be modified to avoid a clash with the Fair Work Act.