Lawyers to review substantive IR bill; AWU collective deal replaces AWAs at Gladstone; AMMA calls for tough construction cop; Qantas maintenance workers say outsourcing has undermined safety; New bill boosts protection for New Zealand casual and labour-hire workers; and Pratt departs DEEWR for Centrelink.
The Queensland Government, like the ACTU, wants any new national IR system to provide a circuit breaker when bargaining breaks down. It also says it will continue to regulate child employment, training, OHS and workers compensation and that, like its state and territory counterparts, it believes federal Labor's proposed seven-day time limit on lodging unfair dismissal applications is too short.
Telstra is seeking a Federal Court injunction to prevent unions making what it alleges are false and misleading claims to its employees about a non-union collective agreement they are due to vote on next week.
In an important ruling, the NSW Court of Appeal has emphasised the limited scope of any implied duty of "good faith and fair dealing" in employment contracts.
AiG national IR director Stephen Smith has warned that the award modernisation process could have the unintended consequence of expanding union entry rights.
The AIRC has ruled this afternoon that it has the power to intervene in the Telstra bargaining dispute, and has held out the prospect that it might be able to order a ballot to give employees the chance to vote on whether they prefer a union or non-union agreement.
The ACTU is arguing for the Federal Government’s substantive IR legislation to provide for the ability to break bargaining deadlocks, secretary Jeff Lawrence said today.
Workplace Authority director Barbara Bennett has admitted her organisation struggled with the fairness test, but says the more measured implementation of the new no-disadvantage test is producing better results and faster approvals. She revealed ITEAs are being lodged at half the rate of AWAs, and make up 80% of all lodgements.
The award modernisation process is likely to severely weaken the longstanding award coverage rights of many employer groups and could result in a round of mergers among state-based organisations, according to IR consultant Andrew O’Brien.
The Opposition will adhere to three core IR principles - a small business unfair dismissal exemption, retaining the ABCC with its full powers, and ensuring a form of statutory individual contract survives – when it adopts its position on Federal Labor’s substantive IR bill, Shadow Workplace Relations Minister Julie Bishop said today.
