The Small Business Union - the country's second largest producer of AWAs - has withdrawn from the OEA's specified industry partner program, after writing to Employment Advocate Peter McIlwain expressing extreme dissatisfaction with both him and his office.
Just days after the ABCC's inception, the Federal Court has thrown out its predecessor's prosecution of major construction company Multiplex for alleged coercion of a subcontractor.
In the wake of the union campaign against key aspects of the Howard Government's second wave IR plans, Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrew announced today that he will remove the OEA's compliance function and hand it to the low-profile Office of Workplace Services, which will double its inspector numbers.
The Victorian Law Reform Commission has recommended a generally "light touch" regulatory system to protect workers' privacy, but with mandatory codes, prohibitions and civil penalties for extreme forms of covert surveillance and genetic testing.
Building industry participants must now notify Australian Building and Construction Commissioner John Lloyd if they initiate or are involved in any court action under the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act or the Workplace Relations Act.
Eleven days ago the John Holland Group initiated bargaining periods against the CFMEU on two construction projects in Perth. It has now followed that up by taking advantage of a rarely-used provision in the WA IR Act to notify the union that it plans to "retire" from the state agreement currently covering those sites.
Some 1,500 journalists and photographers working on metropolitan daily newspapers for Rupert Murdoch's News Limited will have their conditions protected from the Howard Government's second wave IR changes and receive a 7.5% pay rise over two years, under an agreement certified by the AIRC today.
The AIRC on Friday certified a new three-year non-union agreement for pilots and first officers employed by Qantas subsidiary Jetstar that pays a 3% annual increase and extends coverage to the new base in Christchurch, New Zealand.