Some of the amendments to the Workplace Relations Act passed by Parliament this week - and likely to receive Royal Assent next week - could cause substantial practical difficulties for employers with pre-reform agreements, according to Flinders University Professor of Law Andrew Stewart.
AWAs lodged under Work Choices have reduced award conditions more than previously understood, and at a greater rate than pre-reform agreements, according to a new analysis of OEA data by Griffith University IR Professor David Peetz.
A Government-dominated federal parliamentary inquiry into work and family balance has recommended a new a new investigation of the effects of AWAs and Work Choices on working families and reviving the five-yearly IR survey that was conducted until 1995.
Labor leader Kevin Rudd has not yet announced which portfolios he will allocate to his new frontbench team, but Shadow IR Minister Stephen Smith looks likely to lose IR, with new Deputy Leader Julia Gillard the front-runner to replace him.
The AIRC has allowed an AMWU protected action secret ballot to go ahead despite employer arguments that the union had sought prohibited content and was therefore not genuinely trying to reach an agreement, and that the question it planned to put to employees wasn't specific enough.
AMWU members at Metlabs' non-destructive testing centres in four States are voting on strike action after an AIRC ruling that rejected concerns raised by the ABCC and clarified procedures for industrial action ballots.
The ABCC is prosecuting the CFMEU and its WA officials Joe McDonald and Michael Powell over two strikes at the Ravensthorpe Nickel mine in August last year.
Federal Government intervenes in union right of entry case; ACTU executive confirms new levy to step up campaign against Work Choices; Almost 20% of union members who voted for Coalition could switch over IR laws, says survey; and Baby boomers willing to work beyond retirement age.
