Former AIRC Senior Deputy President Keith Hancock has questioned whether the end of centralised wage fixing was responsible for the productivity growth of the 1990s.
Acting Employment Advocate Peter McIlwaine is seeking in-house legal advice about evidence an employee gave in a recent court case that he had been working under an AWA that he had never signed nor sighted but had been registered by the OEA.
The AMMA has rejected the ALP's argument that common law contracts can replace AWAs, saying they will not be an adequate alternative without enabling legislation.
Queensland's power unions have wrapped up the latest bargaining round with the bulk of the State's generators, while negotiations are underway with the trouble-plagued distribution companies.
The ALP has promised to boost by $40 million the federal Wageline service, with Shadow Workplace Relations Minister Craig Emerson claiming it has been run down under the Howard Government.
A full bench of the AIRC has reserved its decision on the NUW's application to ensure Victorian award employees aren't penalised financially when serving on juries.
Eleven years after the Kennett Government abolished Victorian awards, 350,000 of the State's workers have today moved a step closer to having their employment regulated by federal common rule awards, after an AIRC full bench reserved its decision on the rollout of the new system.