Tasmanian nurses escalate industrial action; One down, five to go, for Joe McDonald; Keating defends unions at Combet campaign launch; and ALP chooses replacement for Guley.
The AIRC has reinstated a sacked supervisor, in a case in which it had to decide whether he jokingly accused an employee of "sucking up" to or "sucking off" the company's supply chain manager.
Victorian public sector nurses have voted to accept an ANF collective agreement with the State Government that provides annual pay rises of at least 3.25% over four years, 500 extra nurses, greater rostering flexibility and restrictions on hiring unlicensed workers.
Jetstar and the ASU are set to lodge a new collective agreement with the Workplace Authority after 94% of balloted ground staff voted in favour of a three-year deal that doubles unpaid parental leave and makes it easier for workers to swap shifts.
A Rudd Labor Government would impose a temporary moratorium on employers self-insuring under Comcare and would seek to harmonise OHS laws and streamline workers' compensation through co-operative federalism, according to Shadow IR Minister Julia Gillard.
Federal Court Justice Mark Weinberg has this afternoon reserved his decision on the VHIA bid for an injunction to stop industrial action by Victorian public hospital nurses, and will hand down his decision tomorrow afternoon.
The CPSU is accusing Telstra of trying to rush through a Work Choices non-union call centre agreement before the federal election, but the telco says the union is being misleading, because such an agreement would be "equally possible" under a Coalition or Labor Government.
The Consumer Price Index increased by 0.7% in the September quarter, after significant reductions in childcare and petrol costs, and 1.9% over 12 months, according to the ABS.
More than 140 Victorian public hospitals will tomorrow seek a Federal Court injunction against the ANF to halt nurses' industrial action and will also pursue penalties against the union.
A court has struck out a claim under the Trade Practices Act's s52 misleading and deceptive conduct provisions against the Australian Services Union, ruling that the case couldn't proceed because the union's activities couldn't be characterised as being in trade or commerce.
