AIRC Commissioner Ken Bacon has today revoked his decision last week that would have denied high-income workers on preserved state awards or agreements the right to make unfair dismissal claims under Work Choices.
Finance Minister Nick Minchin has not responded to repeated inquiries from Senate President Paul Calvert about the funding of the Federal Government's $55 million advertising campaign for Work Choices in 2005/06, a Senate Estimates committee heard today.
Key planks of the ALP's IR policy carry "substantial economic risk" and would impose "compulsory" collective bargaining on employers, according to the Ai Group.
In a decision which, if it stands, will exclude higher-income workers who were on state awards or agreements prior to Work Choices from making unfair dismissal claims, the AIRC has ruled that a NAPSA is not an award for unfair dismissal purposes.
The Federal Government will this weekend launch a publicly funded advertising campaign about its changes to Work Choices, saying people were confused by the ACTU's ads against the laws.
The AMWU has been refused an opportunity to bargain for members on a Queensland construction project after the AWU reached a comprehensive greenfields agreement with the employer, Thiess.
Qantas, which has less than 1% of its workforce employed under AWAs, has called on the ALP to retain the individual contracts, saying it needs their flexiblity to compete internationally and to maintain its cost competitiveness.
Employees' basic hourly pay rate rose 4.3% in the 12 months to May 2007, with employees on collective deals the most likely to report a pay rise but those on individual contracts receiving higher increases, according to the latest Melbourne Institute's Wages Report.
An attempt by Airservices Australia to move about 100 air traffic control supervisors onto AWAs has been blocked by an AIRC finding that its agreement with the union requires recruitment and promotion to be determined by merit.
