State governments and trade union peak councils have put in place heavyweight legal teams for their High Court challenge to the Federal Government's IR changes, while NSW unions have received advice from former Attorney-General and IR Minister Jeff Shaw that they have good grounds to attack Canberra's IR takeover.
Concerns that individual common law contracts will fall into the category of unregistered - and therefore unenforceable - agreements under the Work Choices bill appear unfounded, according to Flinders University Professor of Law, Andrew Stewart.
Unions racing to prepare their written submissions to next week's Senate Committee inquiry into the Work Choices bill have uncovered a raft of controversial new provisions in the legislation.
RBA says labour market still strong, wage pressures continue; High Court to hear Fish appeal tomorrow and Amery on November 16; and Andrews says survey shows strong public support for the Government’s "welfare to work" changes.
In what is the largest penalty imposed on a union under the Workplace Relations Act, the Federal Court has ordered the AMWU to pay a $25,000 fine for coercing a subcontractor to make an agreement.
CFMEU beats coercion charge, taskforce caught covertly recording again; Judge says it should be a criminal offence to burn workers’ entitlements; BCA airs new advertisement backing second wave; Work Choices inquiry submissions due on Wednesday; and New guide to work choices.
Award provisions allowing women returning from maternity leave to transfer from full-time to part-time work look like being knocked out under the new Work Choices legislation, according to the ACTU.
The International Labour Organisation is today hearing an ACTU complaint that the Federal Government's Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act breaches Australia's international legal obligations.
The CPSU has uncovered two areas in which the Federal Governments second-wave bill undermines existing bargaining and organising rights even further than flagged in the WorkChoices booklet. The first deals with the 90-day rule for terminating agreements, and the second with right of entry at workplaces covered by non-union collective deals.
