CFMEU WA branch OHS advisor Darren Kavanagh has confirmed he will challenge his union's secretary, Kevin Reynolds, in the election scheduled late this year.
The Federal Court has thrown out an ACCC case against the CFMEU (construction division), the union's national secretary Dave Noonan and a former ACT organiser, rejecting its claim that they breached trade practices law by colluding with a major construction company against hiring a sub-contractor who took on workers as labour-hire contractors, not employees.
The Federal Court has today rejected an appeal by a Hobart hotel - whose manager threatened to turn it into a concentration camp for workers who stayed on the award - against an earlier finding that it applied unlawful duress to a casual waitress in a bid to force her to sign an AWA.
The ALAEA has this afternoon called off tomorrow's four-hour strike after intervention by the ACTU, while Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon has categorically rejected accusations the airline had planned to lockout its licensed aircraft mechanical engineers and replace them with a strike-breaking workforce.
The ALAEA says a letter it received today from Qantas asking that tomorrow's planned four-hour stopwork meetings be held off-site has fuelled its concerns that the airline is planning to lock-out its licensed aircraft mechanical engineers.
Rates of pay including bonuses are growing at a new record annual rate of 4.9% in the private sector and 4.7% across the economy, but growth rates in pay excluding bonuses eased slightly to 4.1% seasonally adjusted in the March quarter, according to the ABS Labour Price Index, released today.
Employer groups have been positive overall about the Rudd Government's first Federal Budget, while the ACTU says the tax cuts are well-targeted to low and middle earners and welcomes extra funding for IR agencies.
The Rudd Government has allocated an additional $3.2m to the AIRC for 2008-09 and the Workplace Ombudsman an extra $5.8m, while the Workplace Authority - which faces a reduced workload following the abolition of AWAs - has had its funding slashed for the period by $30m, in the first Labor Budget in 13 years.
Sparke Helmore partner begins employment discrimination action against his own firm; Federal Court to re-convene crucial appeal on union status in June; and Federal Court reserves decision on ABCC appeal against Multiplex ruling;
