The Federal Magistrates Court has fined a company that employed a caretaker couple to be on call 120 hours a week at an Albury retirement village in exchange for accommodation and a weekly allowance of $111.13 in breach of its own greenfields agreement.
Fresh from his central role in the BHP Bowen Basin settlement, former ACTU Secretary Bill Kelty will next week turn his diplomacy skills to the ETU's internal dispute.
The difficulties in seeking a scope order when bargaining is at an advanced stage have been demonstrated in a failed RTBU bid to separate a minority group from the negotiations.
Analysis released today by the ACTU shows that union membership would need to increase by a net 337,000 over the next five years to return to 2006 density levels.
In a case which establishes Queensland's workers' compensation statute as a "workplace law" under the FW Act adverse action provisions, Leighton Contractors has convinced the Federal Magistrates Court that it did not stand down a construction worker because he pursued an injury claim.
The Federal Court has ordered Australia's largest rail freight operator to comply with its consultation obligations after it sought expressions of interest for voluntary redundancies, in an effort to significantly reduce its 5000-strong workforce.
Productivity Commission chair, Gary Banks, has again questioned whether the "significant human dimension" in labour markets justifies IR regulation falling outside competition policy, while the ACTU has described much of the recent productivity debate as "uncritical reporting of self-interested comments from business leaders that don't bear up to scrutiny".
Building Advisory Board announced; Caltex and airline maintenance jobs to go; Construction industry review needs to look at “real issues”, says CFMEU; and Victorian union stalwart to retire.
