After years of trying, the Federal Government appears set to extend the ACCC's powers to legally represent businesses seeking damages against unions for secondary boycotts after the ALP indicated it would support the legislation.
The AIRC has again refused an application by the AMWU for a strike ballot at a Queensland construction project because the workers are already covered by an AWU greenfields agreement.
After a year of being attacked by the ALP and defended by the Coalition, one of the first big companies to take up Work Choices’ minimum-conditions AWAs - retail chain Spotlight - was today again the focus of the IR debate after revealing it was abandoning individual contracts and talking to the SDA about a collective union deal. This time, however, it was Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey who was criticising the company, while it received sympathy from the ALP.
An AIRC full bench has thrown out for being out of time an unfair dismissal case that was initially rejected when a single member ruled that a NAPSA wasn’t an award for the purposes of the Workplace Relations Act’s termination of employment provisions.
NSW’s Williams inquiry has put up six options for a national IR system that range from full referral of powers to Canberra, to retaining state systems but underpinning them with national standards.
Williams inquiry seeks feedback on six options for national IR system; No more changes to fundamentals of Work Choices, says Hockey; Hockey responds to nurses’ television commercials; Rudd Government would set up new skills body; Bligh backs QCU’s Grace Grace for Beattie’s seat; and Former union officials join Labor ranks in Victorian Parliament.
Union collective agreements can help improve business outcomes but only with cooperation, trust and defined mutual interest, often through the role of local delegates, according to an AMMA study released today.
In a case that has exposed a major hole in Work Choices’ agreement-making provisions, the Federal Court has refused to declare void a five-year non-union collective deal despite finding the employer misled employees about its contents before they voted it up. And, in a further ruling that the SDA says “leaves employees hanging over a cliff”, the court also held that even if it did void the deal, the workers’ previous agreement would not be revived – meaning they would fall back onto the Work Choices minimum standards.
The Australian employer community has responded to Work Choices like sharks that have tasted blood, and they “monstered” Labor over the first version of Forward with Fairness to ensure they didn’t have to stop their feeding frenzy, according to Workplace Research Centre director John Buchanan.
Five years after her last attempt, Democrats Senator Natasha Stott Despoja has again introduced into parliament a bill providing for government-funded paid maternity leave.
