Prime Minister Julia Gillard has rebuffed lobbying from the ACTU executive for further IR reforms, but says she respects the union movement and has a positive view of union membership.
Increased income inequality in recent decades didn't mean those at the middle or very bottom had been cheated but that a relatively small group at the top had done "extraordinarily" well for themselves, according to economics columnist Ross Gittins.
Labour costs jumped sharply while labour productivity improved slightly in the September quarter, according to ABS national accounts data revealed today. Meanwhile, revised estimates for the June quarter provide new impetus for the ACTU's campaign for workers to gain a larger share of the economy's fruits, with the profits share rising to the second highest level on record.
A tribunal has found that an employer that conceded it had a "huggy" workplace was vicariously liable for the sexual harassment of a male employee by a female co-worker who repeatedly gave him "full body" hugs despite his protests.
Fair Work Australia has upheld MSS Security's dismissal of a long-serving in-house recruitment and training coordinator for failing to comply with a direction to stop using an external recruitment company and then concealing his actions.
ACTU to consider adopting "permanent campaign footing"; Goodbye Hughie as new team sweeps positions in TWU Queensland branch; Visy employees strike; and Coalition committed to WorkCover Act re-write
A senior FWA member has conditionally granted an employer's bid to change its name on a transitional enterprise agreement to remove ambiguity or uncertainty, but has expressed some anxiety over doing so.
Fair Work Australia could play a central role in mandating "safe rates" for truck drivers under reforms proposed in a new federal government directions paper.
The ETU's Victorian branch has flagged plans to trial the four-day week in the electrical contracting industry, after securing 5% pay increases and improved penalty rates in a new framework deal for the sector negotiated with NECA.
