Commonwealth Bank of Australia v Finance Sector Union of Australia

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CommBank) initiated legal proceedings against the Finance Sector Union of Australia, contesting the union's actions which allegedly aimed to compel the bank to enter into an agreement. The case was heard in the Federal Court of Australia. The core dispute centred around whether the union's actions, intended to force CommBank to make an agreement, constituted illegitimacy that could warrant penalisation for coercion.

The legal issues before the court were whether the union's actions were sufficiently illegitimate to warrant such penalties and if the actions amounted to unconscionable conduct. The court had to determine if the actions were seriously contrary to generally held notions of morality, beyond mere illegality. The decision hinged on the interpretation of illegitimacy in the context of industrial relations, considering the contentious nature of community opinion on such matters.

The court's reasoning was grounded in the principle that illegitimacy must be distinguished from illegality and that it must strike the reasonable observer as seriously immoral. The court found that the union's actions, while perhaps contentious, did not rise to the level of illegitimacy required to warrant penalisation. The union's conduct, though possibly viewed as questionable by some, did not meet the threshold of unconscionable conduct necessary to sustain a claim of illegitimacy. Therefore, the application was dismissed, and no order for costs was made.

The final orders were that the application be dismissed and that there be no order as to costs.