More than two months after the end of the crippling Victorian construction dispute, unions and employers are finally close to wrapping up the conditions agreement that will cover the industry.
Militant Workers First leader Craig Johnston is now the head of the Victorian branch of the AMWU, with the Federal Court today finding his election opponents hadn't proved their case on ballot irregularities.
In a two-pronged development that has incensed the CFMEU (mining & energy division), Shell is contracting out mining work at its Southern Colliery in Queensland and the contractor, the union claims, is giving jobs only to workers who will sign AWAs.
Fewer than 40% of employees use sick or carers leave to care for other people, according to a new survey of how employees balance work and caring responsibilities.
NSW IR Minister Jeff Shaw's amendments to his 1996 IR Act have handed employees and unions a powerful enhancement to existing anti-victimisation provisions, incorporating the equivalent federal provision's reverse onus of proof that has been used to great effect by unions against Patrick and other employers.
Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith's bill to ban pattern bargaining is now dead in the water, after the Democrats' party room today unanimously resolved to oppose it.
The Queensland Supreme Court has issued a permanent injunction stopping the CFMEU and its officials picketing a Rio Tinto coal mine, despite the picket ending nearly a year ago and the lack of any immediate threat of it resuming.
