Mothers and fathers who have "low quality" jobs that lack security, control, flexible start/finish times and access to paid family leave are more than twice as likely to experience symptoms of conditions such as depression and anxiety as those in "high quality" jobs, while their children's risk of psychological conditions also doubles, according to groundbreaking research by an Australian National University academic.
ABC staff members of the CPSU and MEAA have voted by a 72% majority to accept the public broadcaster's improved 12% pay offer in a proposed new collective agreement.
Pay increases in private sector Work Choices collective agreements have plummeted to 3.2% a year in the September quarter, the lowest rise in four years and well below the 3.9% inflation rate, according to DEWR data released today.
Older Australian men are reversing a 25-year trend of declining labour force participation, with their involvement rate increasing over the last five years, according to a Treasury paper.
A pharmacy distribution company has been ordered to pay $15,000 for racial discrimination to a storeperson who was allegedly called a “lazy black Indian bitch”, and for its failure to properly deal with her complaint.
Growth in rates of pay has dipped in hospitality and retail since Work Choices became law, while annual growth in rates across all industries is failing to match headline inflation, according to the ABS.
Michael Harmer, chair of law firm Harmers Workplace Lawyers, has turned on the Howard Government over Work Choices' drastic erosion of unfair dismissal rights, saying the change is "not only going to cost livelihoods, it will cost lives".
Companies are using Work Choices' employer greenfields agreements to exclude all or most protected award conditions, while in service industries they are using the instruments to secure low wage arrangements with no or low shift and penalty rates, a survey by Workplace Express confirms.
The ABC has increased its pay offer from 3% to 4% a year in a revised proposal to CPSU and MEAA members after weeks of rolling stoppages, including a 24-hour strike.
Employees aged over 50 at the Australian Catholic University will be able to ease down to part-time work while retaining full-time superannuation benefits as part of a new plan to retain older workers and create openings for new employees.
