In an important win for maritime unions, Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard has revealed plans to extend the Fair Work Act to foreign-owned "permit" ships operating off the Australian coast.
ABCC seeks compensation for Perth builder; Gillard chides WA Government over recalcitrance on IR, OHS; UnionsWA's Robinson to join Fair Work Australia; and APESMA and AiG back share scheme changes.
The Australian Taxation Office's offer to its employees has just got over the line in a ballot despite the CPSU, in a vote "no" campaign, arguing that its pay rise - 6.5% over two years - is inadequate and that it undermines job security by making non-permanent employees cheaper.
Wage negotiations at two of Australia's largest employers have taken opposite turns, with workers at Australia Post moving closer to industrial action just as Telstra signs off on a new friendly relations pact with unions.
The Federal Government will lift the annual income threshold to $180,000 for tax-free grants of up to $1000 in shares, in what it says are the final changes to the new tax regime for employee share schemes announced in the May Budget.
The LHMU has today made what are believed to be the first applications for majority support determinations under the Fair Work Act, in a bid to kickstart good faith bargaining with major hotel chains.
The Federal Court and Federal Magistrates Court have released new forms for practitioners to use when making applications to their new Fair Work divisions.
The AiG today used the historic inaugural sitting of Fair Work Australia to call on the new institution to avoid looking abroad for guidance on good faith bargaining, as employer and union representatives joined Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard in welcoming the occasion.
An application by the LHMU for a protected action ballot has failed after the AIRC found the union was not genuinely trying to reach an agreement with the employer, because it was trying to "keep its options open" to vary an existing agreement containing prohibited content.
New restaurants award now a matter for AIRC, says Gillard; Submissions sought on variation of modern clerks award; Obama nominates new head of labour mediation service; and AIRC's Ken Bacon retires.
