The leader of the union at the forefront of the major battles that followed the Coalition's first wave of IR change - the CFMEU's mining & energy division - says market forces will make stand-offs in the coal mining industry a lot less attractive for employers this time around, and it's employees of small to medium-sized businesses who will bear the brunt of the second wave laws.
With the CFMEU (construction division) in Victoria ready to start signing employers up to its new DEWR-endorsed deal, the Queensland building unions have abandoned their bid to go early, the CFMEU in WA has finally served its go-early claim, and the NSW MBA is still waiting for confirmation that the two agreements the CFMEU has put out are code-compliant.
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The AIRC has today asked the MBA to provide a formal response to the CFMEU construction division's proposal to boost apprentices' award wages as part of a strategy to address the industry's critical skills shortage.
While unions are confident of being able to retain unfair dismissal protection at organised sites via bargaining, one of the ironies to emerge from the Coalition's planned radical expansion of its unfair dismissal exemption is that many genuinely small businesses - which were behind the exemption move in the first place - will still be caught by state laws because they are unincorporated.
The DEWR has told Victorian builders their 2005-08 pattern agreement complies with its construction code of practice, but Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews is warning employers to be wary, reminding them he is preparing to shift the code goalposts.
The Victorian Trades Hall Council has criticised the AIRC for discriminating against the majority of award-covered employees in the State by delaying the safety net increase by almost two months.
The AIRC's seven-member national wage bench has used what seems certain to be its final living wage decision to strongly defend its minimum rate setting record during the Coalition's nine-year reign.
