Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard has challenged the Opposition to pass the transitional IR legislation in the Senate next week, saying she is "concerned that their dithering and vacillating will mean that there is delay in dealing with this bill".
Queensland's peak union body has told the Senate inquiry into the transitional IR legislation that the AIRC should be able to maintain state-based differences in awards beyond the proposed 2013 deadline, while the state's peak employer group argued that a drafting anomaly means new agreements won't be able to contain career structures.
Union representatives on a committee considering the impacts of the NSW Government's plans to sell or lease power assets have today rejected the proposal, saying it shouldn't proceed because it is contrary to ALP policy.
The AIRC has the power to order state-registered unions not to take industrial action under s496 of the Workplace Relations Act, but the orders should be strongly based on evidence (including of union involvement) and notified in advance to affected employees, the Federal Court has ruled.
Melbourne's St Vincent's Hospital has been ordered to reinstate a pathology courier it sacked after an internal investigation wrongly accused her of assaulting a fellow employee during a rostering dispute, the AIRC has decided.
Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard has played down the likelihood of AWAs continuing indefinitely beyond their expiry date because their terms would become outdated and it would be impossible to re-negotiate new ones under the Government's transition bill.
The Federal Court on Tuesday will decide whether to maintain an injunction against alleged unlawful industrial action by up to 180 workers on an offshore barge who are building a pipeline for a massive $1.5 billion Woodside resources project in WA's north-west. Unions maintain the stoppage is lawful, as it was a response to reasonable OHS concerns.
In a development that has major implications for established union coverage, the BLF in Queensland has applied under the Work Choices transitional rules to register as a federal organisation. But, as will be the case with other state unions and employer groups, doing so is likely to extend nationwide its coverage of the workers it represents.
The Rudd Government's proposed common law contracts could be better for employers than AWAs, according to AMMA's Chris Platt, while the transitional IR legislation will not guarantee that no worker is worse off, University of Adelaide Law Professor Andrew Stewart said today.
