The Work Choices bill proposes "breathtaking" restrictions on the ability of employees seeking to pursue unfair dismissal claims, according to employment law specialist at Carroll & O'Dea, Peter Punch.
The Federal Government's new IR regime will cost $489.6 million over the next four years, according to estimates in the Work Choices explanatory memorandum.
State-covered employers will need legal advice to negotiate their way through the Federal Government's new IR regime, Flinders University Professor of Law, Andrew Stewart, said today.
WorkChoices' reliance on the corporations power to take over state IR systems is nothing less than a declaration of constitutional war on the states, according to one of Australia's leading constitutional law experts, Professor Greg Craven.
The Prime Minister, John Howard, has this morning moved closer to realising his long-held ambition to radically reshape Australia's industrial relation system, with the introduction into Parliament of the Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Bill 2005.
Management of plastics manufacturer Kemalex is blaming a nine-week strike by union members for its decision to put its Melbourne operation into voluntary administration.
700-page bill into Parliament tomorrow; Workplace Express to send out links; Some questions for tomorrow; Productivity Commission again pushes for retention of state IR systems; IR lawyer says WorkChoices rhetoric is empty; and Eye Popper the Shadow Minister's tip for the Cup.
Just two days before the introduction of the second wave IR changes, the Senate's workplace agreements inquiry's non-Government majority has accused the Howard Government of advertising that award conditions will be "protected by law" to create a smokescreen aimed at deceiving the public.