In an important freedom of association ruling, a Federal Court full bench has found that former Telstra ER head Rob Cartwright - now a senior member of the IRC - discriminated against award workers and gave an improbable explanation for doing so.
ACCI has supported an increase of up to $10 in the federal minimum wage of $400.40, but wants the IRC's living wage full bench to refuse any increases for higher classifications.
The Queensland IRC has made it clear that union encouragement clauses - allowed under State legislation - cannot be used to gain leverage in coverage disputes.
Evidence given in hearings to determine benchmark awards for Virgin Blue's call centre agreement has revealed the radical reduction in demarcations (by the standards of the highly-regulated airline industry) the new player has been able to achieve.
The ASU has thrown an obstacle in Virgin Blue's path, after it imposed a clerical award as one of two designated awards to underpin a highly-flexible single-union call centre agreement between the airline and the TWU.
The NSW Court of Appeal has found that a subsidiary of publisher Fairfax did not breach its duty to provide a safe place of work to a young female advertising sales employee who was sexually assaulted while canvassing for the company.
The ASU and US-based call centre company Sitel have struck a two-year deal that will deliver about 300 Sydney employees who perform to target a minimum 5.5% pay rise a year and penalty rates.
BHP Coal workers in Queensland are preparing to walk off the job again on Sunday night as the protracted bargaining dispute there fails to come any closer to resolution.
