Almost three out of five opposed to Work Choices, Morgan poll finds; Still no s496 order after unions give undertaking against industrial action; Unions rally in Queensland; Employees with caring responsibilities want more access to paid leave and flexible work, finds ABS; PM says AIRC engaging in knee-jerk criticism of Work Choices, confident on High Court challenge; HREOC begins inquiry into same-sex bias at work; Beazley to speak on IR on Tuesday; and Maurice May merges with Slater & Gordon.
At the end of a week dominated by the Cowra Abattoir dispute, there is little support for the assertion by Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews that under Work Choices it remains unlawful for companies to sack employees if their main reason for doing so is to re-employ them on inferior conditions.
Virgin Blue faces a damages payout of up to $80,000 to eight over-36 women who applied for flight attendants' jobs but were rejected because of their age, following an anti-discrimination tribunal ruling.
The CFMEU has lodged a challenge to a recent ruling in which a Federal Court judge found the union liable for its members' industrial action, despite it claiming to have strongly advised them against it.
The AIRC today acceded to an application to make the first secret ballot order for industrial action under the Work Choices regime, but almost immediately revoked the decision to grant it.
A week after being locked out of a greenfields agreement with John Holland, the CFMEU (construction division) says it has struck a superior deal with a different company working on the same Pilbara project.
The information in a leaked DEWR email stating the department was introducing tough new rules on sick leave certificates for AWA workers was wrong, secretary Peter Boxall said today.
DEWR has become the first federal public sector agency to enforce the tough Work Choices sick leave certificate regime, requiring all AWA employees to produce medical certificates for single day absences.
