Women in female-dominated industries and professions in NSW will be able to argue they should be paid more if their work is undervalued, after the NSW IRC handed down its equal remuneration principle.
A full bench of the Queensland IRC has cut the qualifying period for long service leave to 10 years and allowed access to pro-rata leave after seven years.
Unions that fail to organise industries and professions within their coverage rules will risk having rival unions allowed on their turf, and all ACTU affiliates will be obliged to report to the ACTU on their organising strategy, under a policy endorsed by the peak council's Congress yesterday.
Retaining staff talent is now such a high priority at ANZ that chief executive John McFarlane wants to be personally informed about why key staff are moving and where they are going.
Unions would be able to charge non-union workers a service fee for negotiating collective deals, pattern bargaining would be protected, statutory individual contracts abolished, political strikes and secondary boycotts legalised, greenfield sites scrapped, and all non-allowable matters restored to awards under a raft of IR legislative changes the ACTU wants made.
Jeff Shaw's surprise resignation today as NSW IR Minister looks like triggering a reshuffle in the State's front bench but also at the Labor Council, with secretary Michael Costa putting up his hand for Shaw's Upper House seat.
In a move that will add to the pressure state ALP governments are already under on employee entitlements, the ACTU today called on them to provide funds for workers who lose out when companies close or are liquidated.
The ACTU has outlined a multi-pronged approach to tackling job security and work/family issues, including support for a 36-hour week in some industries, and the continued pursuit of transmission of business cases when jobs are contracted out.
The ACTU has revealed it currently has an equity stake of less than 1% in the Virtual Communities venture that provides a PC and internet access to union members for around $10 a week. The Workplace Express team is reporting live from the ACTU Congress in Wollongong. For more Congress news go to www.workplaceexpress.com.au
