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Andrews gives Award Review Taskforce an extension

Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews has given the Award Review Taskforce a one-month extension on its end-of-March deadline for submitting reports on the rationalisation of awards and wage classification structures.

Use Work Choices' opportunities to improve competitive advantage: Lawyer

A Freehills partner has warned a Sydney conference today that employers in industries with low entry barriers should strongly consider using the opportunities for restructuring their employment arrangements available under Work Choices, or have their competitors beat them to it.

Strippers' union wins one of the last new awards

Striptease Artists Australia has succeeded in its long-running campaign for a national industry award that bans shift fees being imposed on dancers and prevents their tips being offset against wages.

6% minimum wage rise after UK Low Pay Commission ruling, but above-AWE rises to end

Low-paid workers in the UK will later this year get a 6% pay rise, well above inflation and average weekly earnings growth, after the Blair Government accepted a recommendation by the pay-setting body on which the Fair Pay Commission was modelled. And in an echo of one of the Work Choices debates, the UK body has refused to accept that employers should be able to count non-cash benefits as part of the minimum wage.

News in brief, March 22, 2006

Six months grace from prosecutions for record-keeping breaches, says ACCI; No doctor required for three month's sick leave under Work Choices: AMA; Preview version of renumbered Workplace Relations Act now available; AIRC lacks jurisdiction to hear dispute over employee entitlements' bond; $150,000 worth of promised shares awarded to axed Adsteam executive; and Failure to store employee records on secure computer catches Government agency: Privacy Commission.

Alcoa loses bid to stop strike at Portland aluminium smelter

Alcoa today lost a bid for orders against a 48-hour bargaining strike at its Portland Aluminium smelter in Victoria after the AIRC accepted assurances from the ETU and the AMWU that they would not try to involve contractors in the stoppage.

Labour hire worker loses unfair dismissal claim after refusing alternative work

A labour hire employee who refused to move from a long-term placement to another host employer has lost an unfair dismissal claim, but the NSW IRC hasn't ruled out the possibility that such an employee could have an implied term in their employment contract giving them a right to stay with the host.

Big fines for employers who fail to notify employees about transmission

Clayton Utz partner Graham Smith has warned that owners of transmitted businesses face big penalties under Work Choices if they fail to comply with new requirements to notify transmitted employees about their employment status, while Lander & Rogers partner Mark Sullivan said the new processes for authorising industrial action could create a four-week delay and give employers the upper hand.