John Della Bosca has retained NSW's IR portfolio after today's frontbench reshuffle by new Premier Morris Iemma, who has committed the State to a High Court challenge against the Howard Government's hostile takeover of state IR systems.
Incoming NSW Premier, Morris Iemma, has committed to continuing with his predecessor Bob Carr's planned High Court challenge to the Federal Government's proposed IR laws.
The second wave IR changes could harm productivity in the public health sector and will not solve the important problems of labour and skills shortages, technological change and an ageing workforce, according to a new academic report.
The Prime Minister John Howard today continued to insist that conditions such as public holidays and smokos would not be scrapped under his second wave IR laws, despite this clearly being at odds with the package he announced to Parliament in May.
The Victorian Government says it will use its position as an employer to protect award conditions for more than 250,000 State public sector workers from the Federal Government's second wave IR changes.
The Federal Court will today begin hearing a case that will consider whether union shareholder campaigns against public companies could breach the coercion provisions of the Workplace Relations Act.
The AIRC has increased Victorian Minimum Wage Orders for workers under Schedule 1A of the WRA in 18 industry sectors by $17 a week, in line with this year's Safety Net Review.
Work and family parliamentary inquiry starts; IR campaign likely for new US-style on-line organisation; and AWU claims unfair dismissal over sub-award wages and conditions.
Increase of 13.5% over three years for Victorian ambulance service employees; Victorian police threaten industrial action while leader denies joining Liberal Party; Building Taskforce to appeal Pine v Doyle ruling; and Beazley pledges to give minimum wage-setting back to the AIRC.
Just six weeks after saying that the ALP's policy on scrapping AWAs was unchanged, Opposition Leader Kim Beazley today told journalists that "we are going to abolish the capacity of Australian Workplace Agreements to undermine collective awards".