A new report from a major employment law firm predicts that the Senate will pass the Abbott Government's Fair Work Act and building industry amendments, suggests the next reforms will be limits on industrial action and productivity requirements for enterprise agreements, and highlights the lower than expected activity in the FWC's anti-bullying jurisdiction.
Employment Minister Eric Abetz has moved quickly to douse suggestions from a junior minister that the federal government is looking to reform penalty rates, issuing a short statement this afternoon that any claims that it is planning to alter the way they are determined are "false".
The Abbott Government has sought to allay fears over a proposed Australian-first pilot program for Darwin employers to sponsor overseas workers, arguing it will be capped at 500 positions.
A mole inside Chris Corrigan's banking syndicate leaked critical information during the 1998 waterfront dispute, according to a new book by former ACTU secretary Greg Combet.
The Coalition is seeking advice on yesterday's Senate defeat of its regulation that by-passed the former Labor Government extension of Australia's migration zone to offshore resource projects.
The Master Builders Association has called on Canberra to act to give its proposed building watchdog the power to deal with secondary boycotts, which unions are using as a "weapon that has the capacity to send Master Builders' members to the wall or inflict sufficient damage to warrant complicity".
Fair Work Commission member Ian Cambridge, a former national secretary of the AWU, will appear this week before the Heydon Royal Commission, which will resume its hearings into the union’s Workplace Reform Association "slush fund".
The Financial Services Council has demanded that Fair Work Commission President Iain Ross clarify two legal points before its challenge to the default superannuation review is heard by the Federal Court on Friday.
