Labor's IR plan would drop the ball on economic reform; Howard responds, after Rudd and Gillard seek guarantee of no HEWRRs-style IR drive in public health; Fielding legislation seeks to reinstate conditions deleted by Work Choices; Sky hasn't fallen and no turning back clock, says BCA; ACTU report merely recycling old news, says ACCI; Work Choices defying critics, says Ridout; and OWS issues new fact sheet on infringement notices, as March 27 looms.
The CFMEU has been fined $20,000, ordered to destroy its delegates' code of conduct forms and place newspaper advertisements on freedom of association rights after being found guilty by the Federal Court of making false statements about workers' obligations to join the union.
An ACTU report released today on the first year of Work Choices emphasises downward pressure on wages – especially for retail and hospitality workers – and disputes Federal Government claims about employment and productivity improvements.
59% of voters nationally - including 25% of Coalition voters - oppose the Work Choices changes, according to an AC Nielsen opinion poll released to mark the first anniversary of the laws.
On the eve of the first anniversary of Work Choices taking effect, the Victorian Government has launched a publicity campaign based on a new study revealing cuts to workers’ pay and conditions under AWAs, particularly for women.
In their first national stoppage in more than a decade, waterside workers staged a lightning strike this afternoon over what the MUA says is inadequate safety in the industry.
Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey has denied ever telling Tristar to make the workers at its Marrickville plant redundant, then re-hire them on individual contracts.
Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey has revealed today he is considering introducing new provisions to make unions more accountable for their spending, as they ramp up their anti-Work Choices advertising campaign, while he says Labor's plan to allow pattern bargaining is a threat to interest rates.
The APESMA will next Tuesday - the first anniversary of Work Choices - launch its own legal company, APESMA Lawyers Pty Ltd, which it has set up in response to the growing volume of its work representing members now going through the courts rather than the AIRC as a result of the new IR laws.
ACTU secretary Greg Combet has called for the mining industry to accept that AWAs will be axed if a Rudd Labor Government takes power, and to begin working with unions and Labor to develop an alternative that maintains the sector's flexibility and agility, while guaranteeing enhanced employee rights.
