NSW public holiday changes; Bandt backs shorter hours call; FSU seeks to shelter members from CBA interest rate decision fallout; FWA to rule on VECCI standing to bring minimum hours case; Full bench to hear public holiday case this month; Wage growth to hit 4% by mid-2012, says Treasury; and Unemployment, participation rates both up
Points will no longer be awarded for occupations or merely "competent" English; approved overseas degrees will be treated as equivalent to Australian qualifications; and the youngest workers will no longer be the most highly valued under changes to the points test for independent skilled migrants announced by the Federal Government today.
FWA has suspended for three weeks industrial action notified at a South Australian electricity generator, accepting that it threatened the health or safety of the State's population but rejecting the employer's push to terminate it.
The National Retailers Association has failed in its bid to reduce minimum shift lengths for casuals in the fast food industry, after Fair Work Australia found it had presented "flimsy" evidence on the need for change.
The NSW Supreme Court has set aside five days in March next year to hear Harmers Workplace Lawyers' claims against its high profile former managing partner Joydeep Hor, at the heart of which is his alleged conduct ahead of leaving to set up his own firm.
The workers responsible for co-ordinating shipping within Sydney Harbour and Port Botany are considering taking potentially disruptive industrial action over their pay dispute with the ports authority.
A Gold Coast company and its director have been ordered to pay a former employee more than $50,000 for sexually harassing her and then dismissing her because she was pregnant.
The AiG looks likely to face significant opposition to its bid to clarify public holiday provisions in the modern manufacturing award, after the ACTU described the proposal as "Scrooge-like" and likely to set a bad precedent.
Employers cannot use the Fair Work Act's transfer of business provisions to cut employees' pay and conditions when they and their agreement shift to a new enterprise, Fair Work Australia has ruled.
AWU leader Paul Howes, in his election diary published today, praises Prime Minister Gillard for being the first federal Labor prime minister since Paul Keating to demonstrate "unwavering" support for unions.
