Prime Minister John Howard has advised employers to "err on the side of caution" by ensuring new agreements provide for penalty rates and loadings until the new fairness test is legislated.
The NSW, Victorian and Queensland Governments have commissioned a study comparing employees' enforceable rights in pre and post-Work Choices agreements.
A full bench of the AIRC has quashed a reinstatement order made against Telstra last year in a case in which the CEPU had successfully relied on the dispute resolution provisions of a redundancy agreement rather than the Work Choices unfair dismissal laws to get its members' jobs back.
A Labor Federal Government would establish a superannuation clearing house that
would stop employers having to make payments into multiple accounts, and set up trades training centres in high schools, Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd said last night in his Budget address in reply.
The IR changes announced by Prime Minister John Howard on Friday plus his flagged amendments on duress and transmission of business are expected to be introduced into Parliament by the end of the month, Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey said today.
Fairfax Sydney journalists return to work; SDA's Don Farrell to seek ALP preselection for Senate; Ron McCallum to feature in television program on Sunday; and Bastard Boys to air on Sunday and Monday.
An AIRC full bench has found that it has no power under Work Choices to bind a union or its members to a federal award, in a ruling that appears to leave some workers exposed to falling back on the legislation's five minimum conditions.
The AIRC has ordered Fairfax journalists and photographers in Sydney to end an unprotected wildcat strike that began yesterday, and return to work at 1pm. If they return, he has directed the company to meet with union representatives at 4pm this afternoon.
Logistical problems prevented Labor consulting its business advisor, Rod Eddington, about its IR policy before the ALP’s national conference, Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd claimed yesterday.
The Federal Budget papers reveal that the Howard Government has paid out a quarter of a million dollars in the past year under its much-heralded assistance scheme for potential unlawful dismissal applicants, and $74,000 for parties to use alternative dispute resolution providers.
