The Greens will refer allegations of exploitation of foreign workers on farms and in food processing plants to a Senate inquiry into the working visa system, according to its IR spokesperson, Adam Bandt.
The Productivity Commission will look at the effect on skilled immigration numbers of making payment, rather than skills or family reunion, the primary basis for determining entry into the Australia during its wide-ranging immigration review.
The Fair Work Commission has ruled that a casual conversion right in a company's enterprise agreement extends to labour hire employees and is a "permitted matter" under the Fair Work Act.
The Australian Shipowners Association has told the Productivity Commission that it is important to understand that the starting point for the bargaining changes it is seeking is the "disproportionate industrial power" wielded by the maritime unions.
The FWC has given in-principle approval to the federal registration of a NSW health sector employer organisation, while NSW PSA industrial staff and Australian screen directors are now covered by their own federally-registered organisations.
The bids by unions for protected action ballots for workers on the massive Gorgon LNG project are on hold for three weeks, after the FWC intervened to bring parties back to the negotiating table.
An exemption to permit South Australia's courts to engage women-only in a "positive discrimination" program is being touted as an important step to address a substantial gender imbalance spotlighted a year ago by a Law Council study.
Australia's largest rail freight operator, Aurizon, has been ordered to provide the full pro-rata rate of pay to a train driver who was to receive a reduced amount under a compassionate grounds/short-term medical disability clause when she returned part-time from maternity leave.
MUA WA branch official Will Tracey could seek a fresh entry permit, after a full Federal Court made it clear that the Fair Work Commission can exercise its discretion to issue him a conditional permit even though he failed the "fit and proper person" test.
