Greens Senator Bob Brown says that if Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd wins power later this year, he could call a double dissolution within 18 months if the Coalition maintains the Senate numbers to block the reversal of Work Choices.
The ACTU says up to a million low-income workers face real pay cuts, after a Federal Government submission urged the Fair Pay Commission to take into account the Budget's tax cuts and increases in benefits.
The Greens, which may control the next Senate, are welcoming union donations to its election campaign against ALP "wavering" on IR reform, after Labor's decision to preserve the ABCC triggered a rare split with the ACTU.
An ABS survey released today shows that 23% of Queensland wage and salary earners are union members, well above the 20.7% membership indicated in another Bureau survey released early this year.
A new ABS survey shows that one in five workers is performing unpaid hours, that a greater proportion of women than men are working without pay, and that almost two-thirds of those who regularly work unpaid hours are not compensated via time in lieu or allowances.
Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd could face months of further embarrassment over his wife's company's award compliance, after the Office of Workplace Services yesterday detailed a two-stage investigation process.
ETU Victorian branch secretary Dean Mighell was pressured to resign from the ALP today after his secretly-recorded comments joking about a pattern bargaining "stunt" led to Government claims of a return to union thuggery under a Labor government.
Labor would invite AIRC President Geoffrey Giudice to head its planned Fair Work Australia if it wins this year's federal election, Shadow IR Minister Julia Gillard said today.
The Howard Government has this morning introduced amendments to its fairness test legislation that seek to make it easier for unions and employers to be federally registered and to provide a statutory prohibition on bargaining fees and pro-union clauses in Work Choices agreements.
The former joint chief executive of a medical equipment company has won common law damages after he was summarily sacked for allegedly serious misconduct that the Queensland Supreme Court found did not justify dismissal.
