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Two of federal parliaments' more colourful politicians - the Liberals' Joe Hockey and the ALP's Julia Gillard - will now lead their parties in the IR battle following Hockey's promotion today to Workplace Relations Minister as part of a significant reshuffle by the Prime Minister, John Howard.

New Rules released by AIRC; OWS prosecutes five Victorian employers for underpayments; and Final edition for Workers Online.

Probationary periods for unfair termination applications restart when workers are transferred in a transmission of business unless specifically agreed otherwise, according to an AIRC decision.

A private arbitration of parts of a proposed collective agreement for ACT public school teachers has decided on an 11.5% pay rise over three years, plus a cap on face-to-face teaching in secondary schools of 19 hours per week averaged over 12 months.

In the first full bench decision on demarcation rights for State unions transferring to the federal system under Work Choices, the Queensland AWU has kept exclusive rights to represent non-clerical workers at Amcor's paper operations in the State.

In a rebuff to Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews and the ATO, an AIRC full bench has found the Commission has the power to order an employer to notify employees that a union is visiting a workplace to investigate possible breaches, while stressing that the right of entry provisions should be interpreted in a reasonable, commonsense way.

A soft drink company has been ordered to pay $8,500 for discriminating against a worker with a visual impairment by excessively reducing his hours after receiving medical safety advice.

A hairdressing chain discriminated against a pregnant apprentice when it changed her status from working in a fixed location to a "floater" who could be required to travel to a different salon within Brisbane each day, a tribunal has found.

New Productivity Commission research shows that Australia's workforce participation rate is the fifth highest in the developed world - much higher than is generally understood - but that matching world's best practice in poor-performing demographics would expand the nation's labour force by more than 600,000.

The ALP is planning to restore policies from the AIRC's family provisions test case ruling, including giving parents the right to request an extension of unpaid parental leave to two years and giving new parents' the right to request part time employment on returning to work, at its national conference in April.