It's the big one that has largely slipped under the radar. Sandwiched between the Federal Government's tough Cole-based construction legislation and its looming second-wave laws, the Better Bargaining bill went through the Lower House last fortnight with no fanfare from the Government and with little comment from the unions. Yet the bill makes major changes to federal bargaining laws, including allowing for lawful union bargaining to be stopped mid-dispute, and severely limiting unions' ability to pursue common claims.
A full bench of the High Court - including new appointee, Justice Susan Crennan - will next month hear an appeal in the long-running Amery indirect discrimination case.
A bid by the CFMEU (construction and general division) to increase award rates for apprentices is to be referred to the AIRC President, Justice Geoffrey Giudice, after parties this morning failed to reach an agreement.
A showdown is looming over the ACTU's 2006 living wage claim, with unions committed to forging ahead with it while Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews insists that the 2005 safety net ruling will be the last.
The AWU is making an international issue of its four-month-old dispute at Boeing's RAAF maintenance base at Williamtown in NSW by linking it with a strike by 18,000 Boeing aircraft machinists in the United States.
The ACTU today applied for an annual safety net increase in award pay rates of 4%, in line with the Wage Price Index, and threatened to take the claim to state industrial commissions if the AIRC does not decide the case.
The Reserve Bank has struck a deal with the FSU that pays its 311 agreement-covered employees a 4% annual pay rise – well shy of the 4.5% mark that sets off the central bank’s wage growth alarm bells.
Liberal MP Andrew Robb has today championed Rio Tinto's iron ore operations as a breathtaking example of the turnaround in IR practices able to be achieved by dealing directly with employees - a model that will be fostered by the Howard Government's second wave IR changes.
Emerging "thaw" in union-employer relations at ANZ; bargaining deadlock continues between Westpac and FSU; and union seeks 3% employer contribution to super at NAB.
