Fair Work Australia's Senior Deputy President Peter Richards has refused to order costs against an unfair dismissal applicant's solicitor for his "cavalier" and "dilatory" conduct in failing to comply with directions, but has ordered him to produce a copy of the tribunal's scathing ruling if he seeks leave to appear in future.
The Productivity Commission has rejected "prescriptive regulatory measures" such as pay caps to curb executive remuneration excesses, saying that after considering alternative measures put to its inquiry, it is "not convinced that the way forward is to by-pass the central role of boards in remuneration-setting".
Optus employees have voted up a new three-year enterprise agreement that delivers guaranteed CPI-linked pay increases, improved redundancy entitlements and an arbitration role for Fair Work Australia.
PC executive pay report recommends "two-strikes" policy for recalcitrant boards; ABCC intervenes in Burrup unlawful strike case; Bad blood in the past as Caelli does union deal; McDonald hit with injunction over spurious OHS claims; FWA upholds Woolies' sickie sacking; and New audit report outlines annual leave changes in new Act.
The AIRC's draft Miscellaneous Award could extend coverage to some employees in traditionally award-free roles, while leaving others in need of protection to slip through the cracks, according to University of Adelaide professor of law Andrew Stewart.
NAB and the FSU have agreed to a 15-month agreement extension that will deliver most of the bank's employees 2% annual pay increases and a $750 sign-on bonus, in the first formal bargain struck by a big bank under Labor.
Visy's food packaging division is seeking to use the Fair Work Act's cooling-off provisions to stop about 100 workers at its factory in Melbourne's north striking for three months.
G20 calls for executive remuneration reform in finance; FWA appoints dismissals and agreements director; and Hockey advisor Minna Knight seeking Liberal preselection.
A Federal Court full bench has more than doubled a coercion penalty against the CFMEU, in a comprehensive rewriting of a ruling by a senior judicial member of its industrial panel.
NSW is yet to agree to refer its IR powers to Canberra, while WA is continuing to go its own way, following Friday’s meeting of state and federal IR ministers that also agreed to release the draft uniform OHS laws for public comment. Meanwhile, Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard has endorsed the AIRC's new draft restaurant industry modern award.
