Employers to face shortages as full employment returns, says Ruthven; Wages for office workers up 3.8%: Drake; High earner allowed to pursue unfair dismissal; Judge raises doubts about whether employer has power to direct trainee to take psych test; AIRC orders ballot over enterprise deal at Groote Eylandt mine; Income disparity widening, says survey; 9.5% work value rise for call takers; AIRC upholds drug company's zero tolerance; Australian Paper, Silcar fend off industrial activity discrimination claims; and CPSU launches pre-poll push for fairer deal in public sector.
Defence Housing Authority employees have won the right to purchase up to four weeks annual leave, under a new s170LK enterprise agreement certified by the AIRC today.
With coking coal prices at historic highs, BHP Billiton and the CFMEU (mining & energy division) are in the middle of a showdown in the Illawarra region of NSW that could threaten the supply of high grade coal to the nearby BlueScope steelworks.
An overweight coal miner sacked three times by Anglo Coal's Capcoal operations for being unfit for work has won a discrimination claim against the company after it then refused to let him on site at a different mine.
A five-member full bench of the NSW IRC (in Court Session) has clarified the meaning of the State Government's 2002 legislative amendments that were intended to curb use of the s106 unfair contract jurisdiction by high-income earners.
Almost two-thirds of manufacturers employing more than 100 people are experiencing difficulty in recruiting skilled workers, underlining the need for business and government to develop strategies to close the "skills gap", according to the Australian Industry Group.
A permanent sub-committee made up of union, staff and management representatives will monitor workloads under a new enterprise agreement struck between the federal Department of Health and Ageing and five unions.
A standalone Work and Family Act containing new legal rights would be established, along with a Work and Family Commissioner to oversee it, while working parents would be entitled to up to 30 hours a week of free childcare, under the work/life policy the Democrats will take to the October 9 federal election.