Independent Contractors Bill to be introduced tomorrow; Queensland IRC to begin Work Choices inquiry on Friday; NSW IR department head raises doubts about adequacy of OWS inspectorate; Andrews tenders for advisors on “fair and proper” employment termination practices; Only new employees to be offered AWAs at Spotlight; and Qantas announces redundancies, but will retain catering business.
Work Choices' protected action provisions will receive judicial consideration for the first time after United Collieries - which has been subject to industrial action at its Stanhope mine during a bargaining dispute with the CFMEU - applied for a declaration from the Federal Court.
Veteran employer lawyer Graeme Watson this week began his role as one of the AIRC's two vice presidents after finishing nearly 23 years with Freehills law firm last Friday.
In its first rejection of "operational reasons" arguments for excluding an unfair dismissal claim under Work Choices, the AIRC has found that an employee sacked after their position was abolished should have been offered an alternative position within the company.
The AIRC has ordered a union to stop organising unprotected industrial action despite finding that its officials were actually discouraging the two-day strike at Inghams' chicken processing factory at Thomastown in Melbourne.
After travelling the country since early this year seeking views about the impact of Work Choices, Labor's IR Taskforce has delivered an interim report that includes seven "preliminary" findings, including that the abolition of the no disadvantage test has "permanently lowered" the floor for negotiating wages and conditions.
The director of the beefed-up Office of Workplace Service has warned advisers to employers that they are in his sights, and has also made clear that the OWS will be sampling deals lodged with the OEA to ensure Work Choices requirements are met.
ACT public school teachers will walk off the job for four hours on Monday after the largest secret ballot conducted so far under Work Choices overwhelmingly returned a "yes" vote on industrial action.
In its first ruling on Work Choices' requirement that protected industrial action be taken within 30 days of the secret vote authorising it, the AIRC has today rejected an employer's argument that a proposed 24-hour stoppage was unprotected because it was to begin more than 30 days after the ballot.
Prime Minister John Howard will sit down with Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews to look at ways of curbing the TWU's rights under the Government's proposed independent contractors legislation, following "significant" concern among Coalition members and senators about the bill.
