The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption will hold its first hearing next month and Royal Commissioner Dyson Heydon will hand his final report to the federal government at the end of the year.
There is no barrier to federal and state governments immediately putting in place Victorian-style procurement arrangements to improve IR on infrastructure projects, according to a Productivity Commission draft report.
The royal commission into union financial dealings will force some employers to give an account of their own dealings, according to Employment Minister Eric Abetz.
The Federal Government is yet to decide whether it will introduce a FWC appeals jurisdiction, while its submission to the four-year modern award review leaves the door open for stakeholders to seek pay rises, a Senate committee has heard.
A Sydney-based silk with a strong suit in commercial law is tipped for the crucial role of counsel assisting the royal commission into the governance of unions and their financial dealings.
Flagging new strategies to give workers a collective voice, ACTU assistant secretary Tim Lyons has rejected recent calls for an "accommodation" with employers and told unions not to be afraid of conflict and controversy.
The Abbott Government has presented its first tranche of changes to the Fair Work Act to Parliament today, including proposals to free up greenfields impasses, expand the subject matter of IFAs, wind back the ALP's right of entry changes and require bargaining before protected action.
The Federal Government is urging the Fair Work Commission not to be "distracted by" the former Labor Government's broader pay equity principles when assessing an equal remuneration application for childcare workers.
Changes to greenfields agreement provisions in the bill expected to be introduced by Employment Minister Eric Abetz next week will cut negotiation time from five months to three for major projects and cut business administration costs by $14.4 million a year, according to his department's regulation impact statement.
The FWC is expecting a "significant number" of bullying applications and inquiries next year and has released a model for dealing with them and a draft benchbook, as well as announcing Commissioner Peter Hampton's appointment as the head of its anti-bullying panel.
