Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews dismissed today's mass protests against Work Choices, pointing to a lower turnout than at the union's first national day of action against the laws last year.
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As unions and workers gear up for tomorrow's day of protest against Work Choices, a partner in a law firm has advised employers to make sure sick leave isn't used to cover unauthorised absences, while a labour researcher maintains the planned rallies are "appropriate and legitimate".
Commonwealth Solicitor-General David Bennett QC showed the States no mercy during the High Court Work Choices challenge, and he was at it again recently as an after-dinner speaker at the South Australian IR Society conference.
A stockbroker who was promised a job he never got has won an extra $1.7 million, plus interest, in damages in a Federal Court appeal that extends some criteria for calculating losses for breach of an employment contract.
The AMWU has won the right to pursue a "phoenix" company for employees' entitlements lost when it assumed the same business premises, manager, assets, goodwill and phone number of their former employer when it went into liquidation.
State award-covered workers in WA have this afternoon won a $20 flat increase in their pay, lifting the minimum wage to $504.40 a week ($13.27 an hour), after the WA IRC in its State Wage Case ruling ordered an increase identical to that handed down by the NSW IRC this morning.
Wage increases have tumbled to 3.8% in federal collective agreements certified in the March quarter - the last one that will include large numbers of non-Work Choices deals.
The record $20 flat increase (raising the minimum wage by 4.1%) delivered to all NSW award-covered workers today by the State IRC is sure to put pressure on the Fair Pay Commission to support a substantial rise when it makes its first minimum pay determination in spring.