Family First's Senator Steve Fielding has this morning made a concession on his unfair dismissal stance ahead of the amended Fair Work Bill being returned to the House of Representatives - but he has still not agreed to the Government's position, which Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has again warned was non-negotiable.
The fate of the Fair Work Bill hangs in the balance this morning, after the Senate passed changes to the legislation’s unfair dismissal provisions that the Government maintains it won’t accept.
The Senate is set to tonight debate the crucial issue on which the Government remains unwilling to compromise but has so far failed to get the support it needs - what defines a small business for unfair dismissal purposes. This follows a day in which senators dealt with a raft of less controversial amendments to the Fair Work Bill.
Fair Work Australia will have the power to make "take-home pay orders" to ensure modern awards don't render workers worse off under transitional legislation introduced by Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard this morning.
Transitional legislation introduced today by Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard gives Fair Work Australia a broad power to make "representation orders" to avert demarcation disputes, provides for "conditional termination agreements" to help employees move off AWAs and repeals the Workplace Relations Act.
The Rudd Government has commissioned the Productivity Commission to review the regulatory framework for executive remuneration, and has appointed former ACCC chair Alan Fels to assist the nine-month inquiry. Meanwhile, the Government has also announced new measures to contain "excessive" golden handshakes.
As the 16-month-old Rudd Government prepares to decide how much of the Cole construction industry IR architecture to retain, the US Obama administration has swiftly moved to remove the Bush administration's ban on making "project labour agreements" with unions for federally-funded construction jobs.
The Federal Government will provide for an interim review of modern awards and IFAs after two years and axe the ability for conscientious objectors to block entry to their premises, as part of a deal for the Greens to support the passage of the Fair Work Bill through the Senate. However, the arrangement could still come unstuck if the Government backtracks on unfair dismissal.
Opposition amendments will increase redundancy threshold, says Gillard; Labor caucus clears way for transitional bill; ETU video ridicules Labor over Fair Work Bill.
