The NSW Government this afternoon argued before the High Court's seven-member full bench that the Constitution's corporation power did not have the reach to support the Federal Government's Work Choices legislation.
A record 39 barristers fronted the High Court in Canberra today, as the states and unions began their six-day constitutional challenge to the Work Choices legislation.
The CFMEU has applied for a secret ballot for industrial action at a New South Wales coal mine in a plan to meet the Work Choices' voting requirement in less than a week.
The third application for a secret ballot for industrial action under Work Choices before the AIRC failed today as the ANF prepared to pursue its test case of the contentious laws tomorrow.
The Howard Government's world-first Independent Contractors Bill - to be introduced late this month or early next - will continue the owner-driver protections that exist in NSW and Victoria, import unfair contracts provisions from the Workplace Relations Act and provide three-year transitional arrangements for employees "deemed" to be employees under state IR laws, according to Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews.
AIRC's Richards promoted to presidential position; RBA cites wage growth, labour shortages as factors in raising interest rates; and Cost of cycling to work goes up for Victorian health department employees.
UPS discriminated by refusing to hire Rastafarian because of his beard, say US EEOC; Employer discriminated against worker when it sacked her because of asthma, says UK tribunal; Walking the talk: UK IR Minister says his past two departmental heads have worked part-time; and Property business sacked worker due to her pregnancy, says tribunal.
An AIRC full bench has today overruled a controversial decision allowing a union to take industrial action without a secret ballot under Work Choices' transitional provisions.
The Victorian Government's new Workplace Rights Advocate has launched its first investigation into union complaints that a cleaning and catering contractor is using Work Choices to try to increase hours and cut casual and part time loadings.
The TWU's NSW branch has lost an application to stay the AIRC's first order against industrial action under Work Choices, in a case that affirms the new law’s power over state-registered unions.
