Prime Minister John Howard will sit down with Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews to look at ways of curbing the TWU's rights under the Government's proposed independent contractors legislation, following "significant" concern among Coalition members and senators about the bill.
Employees whose enterprise agreements are terminated under the Work Choices 90-day rule still have common law protection of their terms and conditions, the South Australian IR Society's annual conference has heard.
The proliferation of side agreements plus confusion over both the 38-hour week and new record-keeping requirements are the problem areas emerging under Work Choices, a senior lawyer maintains.
New employees will automatically make a 3% personal contribution to their superannuation in addition to the 9% compulsory employer contribution, if the Howard Government accepts bipartisan recommendations tabled by a federal parliamentary committee today.
Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews maintains that the Award Review Taskforce is due to meet its end of July deadline for rationalisation of award pay and classification structures, while the head of the Taskforce has told a conference that the complex current structure mitigates against dramatic change.
It may be stating the obvious, but federal Shadow IR Minister Stephen Smith has acknowledged that "when the dust settles" on the States’ High Court challenge to Work Choices, it would "not be inappropriate" for the ALP to contemplate an IR system based on a federal model.
Labor's bargaining rights are code for 100% union bargaining, says Andrews; IC legislation wil comply with new ILO recommendation, say independent contractor lobby; Esselte AWAs under investigation; union claims DEWR prompting employees to sign; and NSW's Sheldon takes over national leadership of TWU.
Owners of half of the major CBD buildings across Australia have now given in-principle support to the LHMU's minimum labour standards for cleaners, after the last of 13 major property holders accepted it yesterday, according to the union, which launched its innovative "Clean Start" campaign just two months ago.
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley has defended his plans to abolish AWAs, telling the Business Council that the individual contracts, along with the removal of the no disadvantage test, undermine employer incentives to boost productivity and set in train an "inevitable" race to the bottom.
The Victorian Government has failed to block a Federal Court injunction stopping the summary dismissal of a departmental solicitor for "serious misconduct."