Australian employers could adopt a proposed charter of employment rights without legislative requirements to improve certainty in workplace relations, according to a leading IR lawyer.
Working women are "shock absorbers" who work fewer hours than men to reduce the impact of their labour on life at home, but pay a high personal price as they try to juggle the two spheres, according to new University of South Australia research.
A Hobart hotel applied unlawful duress in a bid to force a casual waitress to sign an AWA, the Federal Magistrates Court has found, after hearing that its manager threatened to turn it into a low-benefit "concentration camp" for workers who insisted on staying on the award.
The OECD has recommended that countries look at European "flexicurity" models that protect workers made redundant while providing for the job mobility required to allow movement from shrinking to growing sectors of the economy. It has also backed paid maternity leave, saying it boosts multi factor productivity.
Employers face being fined if they don't give their employees a Workplace Authority fact sheet under planned government amendments to the fairness test bill.
Wage increases in private sector collective agreements have dropped in the first year of Work Choices from 4% a year to 3.5%, despite unemployment reaching near-record lows and a booming economy.
Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd could face months of further embarrassment over his wife's company's award compliance, after the Office of Workplace Services yesterday detailed a two-stage investigation process.
The Howard Government will provide $370m in extra funding for administration and enforcement of the safety net changes introduced into Parliament today, including more than $100m in the next financial year.
