Outgoing Productivity Commission chair Gary Banks has included workplace relations on a lengthy list of areas he says need further productivity reform, while Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has announced a new working group to consult on implanting the Coalition's productivity agenda.
One year on from last year's dramatic fleet-grounding and lockout, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has defended his actions as the only course available under the Fair Work Act, and said the deals with two unions that followed reinforced the airline's right to manage its business and he was "optimistic" the third would do the same.
Full steam ahead for HSU NSW and Vic No. 3 branch elections; MUA fined for WA industrial action; Setka action against Abbott begins; and Federal government simplifies specialist temporary work visas.
The first of the federal government's bills to flow from the Fair Work Act review panel report is through the Lower House and has been referred to a senate committee inquiry, but with a report-back date that still allows time for it to be passed before parliament rises for the year.
Bakers Delight employees are being offered seemingly generous upfront wage rises in enterprise agreements currently before Fair Work Australia for approval, but unions are concerned that the increases will be undermined by an effective freezing of pay and conditions for the remainder of the four-year deals.
Opposition backbencher Jamie Briggs has questioned Fair Work Australia President Justice Iain Ross's impartiality and claimed the federal government's motive in seeking to fast-track its proposed Fair Work Act amendments was to appoint Maurice Blackburn's Josh Bornstein and former ACTU secretary Jeff Lawrence to the new vice presidents positions the bill would create, ahead of a possible change of government next year.
New research released by the Australian Human Rights Commission shows that 29% of women experience a workplace backlash after complaining about sexual harassment, up from 16% in 2003.
