CFMEU WA branch secretary Kevin Reynolds is shaping as the likely winner in the election battle for control of the union; and the CFMEU has been ordered to keep assistant secretary Joe McDonald from trying to exercise right of entry for two years and has revoked or suspended the entry permits of three branch organisers.
An employer who repeatedly grabbed the genitals of an apprentice and pretended to try and drag him into the shower has been ordered to pay $35,000 in damages.
Unions to have right to inspect non-members employment records, but face fines for misuse of information; Lawrence says Labor's IR changes not Work Choices lite; Unions push for constructive union-employer relationships in new principles for broadband network; and Workplace Ombudsman to audit Sydney building sites.
An employer has won a $164,000 payout from a recruitment company that failed to properly check the references of a sales manager who subsequently charged $44,000 of personal expenses to his corporate credit card and turned out to be an undischarged bankrupt.
The ACTU believes the custodianship of unions and employer groups over awards should be maintained, but severing the link between award respondency and representation rights could help the award modernisation process, according to senior industrial officer Cath Bowtell.
AIRC Vice President Graeme Watson has signalled that the consultation regime for award modernisation could be restructured, after the process for the first round of modern awards had "not been as useful as it might have been."
Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard appears to have successfully walked the IR tightrope with her announcement this afternoon that her substantive bill will extend limited arbitration into three new areas. The ACTU has welcomed the move as giving workers added protection, while her commitment that parties won't have to sign concessions during good faith bargaining plus the high threshold for the "significant harm" test have helped soften employer opposition, with the AHA an exception.
The Federal Government has responded favourably to AIRC commissioner Barbara Deegan's recommendation that minimum salary levels be abolished in favour of market rates for 457 visa workers earning less than $100,000; but said her call to levy sponsors to pay for services such as Medicare was contrary to ALP policy.
Fair Work Australia will be able to arbitrate a settlement when parties commit serious breaches of good faith bargaining orders, Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard will announce this afternoon.
