Two big international direct marketing companies exercised control over workers who were engaged as independent contractors to sell products or solicit donations to major corporations and charities, according to documents lodged with the Federal Court.
The MUA delegate whose loss of casual stevedoring shifts sparked last year's Webb Dock blockade was earlier mistakenly provided with a letter by the container terminal operator's HR-IR director declaring him a full-timer, the Federal Court has been told.
The FWO is seeking to fine the CFMMEU's MUA division more than $3.5 million for unlawful industrial action against Hutchison Ports, using a novel argument that historic contraventions of the same Fair Work Act provision denies the union the benefit of the legislation's single course of conduct mechanism.
A class action alleging sham contracting against a major marketing agency will proceed after a court dismissed arguments that it was impossible to rule on the employment status of more than 1000 claimants without examining their individual circumstances.
Key witnesses in this week's collapsed criminal case against two Victorian CFMEU leaders told the Melbourne Magistrates Court that nobody mentioned the word "blackmail" to them until more than a year after a crucial meeting in April 2013.
Having only recently been given the all-clear over a heavily-scrutinised $75,000 payment while at the CEPU, former Unions Tasmania secretary and political aspirant Kevin Harkins will face a Federal Court judge next month as the ABCC pursues him over "abusive" entry breaches.
A year after its establishment, the Registered Organisations Commission has begun its first court case, seeking penalties against the CEPU for allegedly failing to keep an accurate list of its offices and office holders on numerous occasions over a period of more than two years.
In rejecting as "absurd" the expert evidence of a forensic accountant who calculated that Ambulance Victoria owed an on-call media officer $800,000 in unpaid entitlements, the Federal Circuit Court has instead ordered the employer to pay her $155,000, including for time spent sleeping.
Provisional award clause grants more flexibility to casuals; Wages growth stuck in slow lane, says RBA; HR manager not unfairly sacked for complaints to CEO: Court; Inequality on rise as technology advances, says IMF.
Aerocare's 2500 workers today began voting on a new offer by the aviation ground-handler that seeks to cut through a thicket of litigation and hurdle strong opposition from the TWU and ASU.
