The ALP's IR policy, like the Work Choices legislation it would replace, risks an increased corporatisation of labour law by using the Constitutional powers enshrined by the High Court's Work Choices decision, according to the Dean of Law at the University of Sydney, Professor Ron McCallum.
In the wake of Labor releasing its IR policy, Shadow IR Minister Julia Gillard has sought to get business onside by promising it will be part of an advisory group to help to draft Labor's workplace legislation if it takes power this year.
The ACTU has welcomed the ALP's IR policy launched at the party's national conference yesterday, while conceding it is not all that unions wanted, as the federal government and business leaders warned it would damage the economy.
Labor's proposed Fair Work Australia would be obliged to review minimum wage rates annually, in time for a July 1 rise, and Federal Treasury would be required to inform the new body about the likely economic effects of adjusting minimum rates, if a Rudd Government takes power at this year's election.
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.
