Disruptive wildcat industrial action could result from the measures in Reith’s second wave that restrict protected action by unions, University of Sydney Professor of Industrial Law Ron McCallum told the Senate inquiry into Peter Reith's second wave IR bill.
Employees working more than 11 hours a day had more than twice the rate of heart attacks than those doing only seven to nine hours, according to an overseas study cited by the ACTU at the launch of a new campaign on working hours.
In a decision likely to accelerate the growth of labour hire, a full bench of the Industrial Relations Commission has ruled that a teacher supplied by a labour hire firm had no employer-employee relationship with the educational institution where she worked.
ACTU secretary-elect Greg Combet has revealed plans to restructure the ACTU along the lines of the organisation’s blueprint for the wider union movement, unions@work.
Opposition leader Kim Beazley has reaffirmed the commitment to abolish the Employment Advocate contained in the IR policy Labor took to the last election.
The Democrat Senator likely to have the key influence on the passage of Peter Reith’s second wave WR legislation has identified extension of award regulation into award-free areas as a vital issue the second wave has neglected.
AIRC president Geoff Giudice has made veiled criticisms of senior members of the Commission who have spoken out against the Howard Govt’s plans to reform the Commission. He said changes to the Commission’s jurisdiction were a matter for politicians, policymakers and Parliament.
In a case that underlines the importance for employers not to unreasonably pressure existing employees to accept AWAs, the Federal Court has ordered a Victorian licenced club not to cut the hours of six workers.
In one of its most significant decisions since the introduction of enterprise bargaining, the IRC has declared with its Hunter Valley No. 1 decision that it won’t intervene to settle even the most serious and damaging enterprise bargaining disputes.
