In what could be a Work Choices test case on the power of third parties to stop protected industrial action, Ford Australia has asked the AIRC to suspend the bargaining period at one of its key component suppliers, alleging millions of dollars in loss and damage due to an AMWU-led strike.
The Econtech study that claims that rolling back the Howard Government’s IR laws would reduce employment and labour productivity in fact “tells us nothing about the effects of abolishing Work Choices”, according to Griffith University Professor of IR, David Peetz.
WO investigating alleged AWA duress during transmission at Adelaide furniture chain; Pocock to address first meeting of Victorian Government's working families council; Police in Victoria start work bans; and More than half of cleaners say they don't have enough time to complete the job.
The Workplace Authority looks unlikely to give academic researchers access to Work Choices AWAs before the election, after director Barbara Bennett indicated the organisation wasn’t conducting external research “at the moment”.
The AMMA has made it clear in a letter to ALP Deputy Leader Julia Gillard that allowing flexible common law contracts for high income earners won’t be enough to win support for its IR policy. In addition to seeking a salary threshold of just $75,000 – including allowances and overtime – the employer organisation wants workers on any new arrangement to be denied the right to take industrial action.
The peak organisation for building contractors is ramping up pressure for Labor to retain the ABCC after 2010, with new qualitative research released today showing that the sector’s managers and supervisors strongly support the institution and the national construction code.
Former ASU Victorian branch president Martin Foley has been preselected as the ALP's candidate to replace retired deputy premier John Thwaites in the seat of Albert Park, while TWU assistant secretary Wade Noonan has been chosen to run for the electorate of Williamstown, vacated by retired premier Steve Bracks.
After criticising the way Labor was promoting its IR policy in June, former Prime Minister Paul Keating now says the "penny has dropped" for the party and that it is "back on the main game".
