A Rudd Labor Government could incorporate a judicial function in its proposed Fair Work Australia without breaching the Constitution, according to advice from senior counsel.
A Rudd Labor Government's IR system would provide a safety net comprising 10 legislated minima, plus up to 10 further minimum conditions within awards, the Opposition has announced today.
The assistant secretary of the WA branch of the CFMEU (construction division), Joe McDonald, will now face six counts of trespass next week after he was arrested again on Tuesday - this time for entering the Q-Con construction site in Perth.
Howard says Labor's one-stop shop unconstitutional; Greens and Democrats cold on ALP plan; OWS to start young workers campaign in May; Catholic bishop calls on Government to release AWA data; and Campbell bows out after "treachery" from former AMWU colleagues.
Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd has told the Labor Party's national conference he would remove Work Choices "lock, stock and barrel" if the ALP won office this year, while he said Prime Minister John Howard was a tired, ideologically-driven leader of a government without a heart.
The number of employees working on contracts in Australia as measured by the ABS has surged by more than 850,000 in the last two years, but the bureau has warned the increase reflects a change in the question used in its labour surveys.
Employers with a good track record on skilled temporary visas will have their applications fast-tracked, new penalties will apply for rule breaches, and overseas workers will need English language skills to get into Australia under proposed changes to the s457 visa scheme announced today by Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews.
ACTU secretary Greg Combet has signalled the end of the state IR systems under federal Labor's plans for a national regime legislated under the corporations power established by the High Court's Work Choices decision.
Despite criticism from employer groups that the ALP is on shaky legal ground with its plan to create a one-stop IR shop, Flinders University's Professor Andrew Stewart says that if done carefully, the proposal would be constitutional.
