Some 47% of the AWU's members rate the union's performance as good or very good, according to an Auspoll survey, while 12% rate it as poor or very poor.
A team leader who claimed he failed to report a theft of company products worth $10,000 because the company and its workers had a "culture of no-dobbing" has had his unfair dismissal case rejected by the IRC.
In a strident attack, WR Minister Tony Abbott has warned that the Gallop Government's IR reforms could put it on the same path as the embattled Argentina.
Unions, long used to bad news on membership levels, can take heart from today's ABS data which shows density has dropped only slightly over the past 12 months and, for the second year in a row, the number of workers who belong to a union has actually increased.
Unions remain confident that Ansett employees will receive their full entitlements and, failing that, the "lion's share" of what they are owed, following the collapse of the Tesna bid today.
The NSW IRC will next month begin hearing the State Labor Council's test case on union dues clauses, as the temperature rises on the issue at federal level and in other states.
The IRC has reiterated that employers must articulate a reasonable probationary period when engaging new employees, after an employer attempted to rely on an extended probation period in an unfair dismissal case.
IRC tells Qantas to consider guaranteed increase for maintenance workers; Employer faces $66,000 in costs after appeal fails; Older Australians increase their wealth; OHS prosecution after death of worker fails; and more.
