In an important ruling for employers, Queensland's highest court has ruled that an employer who told a jobseeker he was too old hadn't discriminated against him, because the jobseeker had approached the employer "on spec" and there had been no job on offer.
The Victorian Government has allocated funds from the State Budget to a strategic IR advice unit that the Government hopes will keep it on the front foot with disputes such as the recent construction battle, and help it counter sniping from the Federal Government.
A crucial test of the new Queensland IR Act's contractor deeming provisions will now proceed, after the State's Supreme Court dismissed an employer bid to throw out the case.
Unions seeking to use shareholder power to influence the policies of public companies will be heartened by a direction from Australia's corporate regulator, the ASIC, to five major shareholders of Rio Tinto to disclose the organisations which hold shares in the mining company.
In a move that the gas and oil production industry will watch closely, the MUA has applied to the IRC to change its rules so it can formally cover offshore oil and gas production workers in the Bass Strait.
In a last-ditch bid to avert a 24-hour teachers' strike on Thursday, NSW IRC Deputy President Peter Sams has given the NSW Teachers Federation until 12.30 tomorrow to call off the strike.
Employers and unions concerned at the erosion of skill-based pay relativities from flat dollar safety net adjustments will be heartened by the IRC's living wage decision, which, while awarding a $15 flat rise for the low paid, canvasses a return to percentage-based increases.
In a case that deals with whether in-the-field-bargaining prevents the IRC making a safety net award, a full bench of the Commission has rejected LHMU arguments that the CCI of Western Australian initiated sham bargaining periods on behalf of contract cleaners to avoid a first award for the industry.