Verbal war breaks out over Victorian construction deal as negotiator claims sign-up of majors imminent; and New WA working hours regime doesn't limit hours.
Reserve Bank Governor Ian Macfarlane has thrown his weight behind further IR change, while new Treasury research says scrapping all IR regulation would boost labour productivity growth by 0.25% a year.
The bid by visiting medical officers in the ACT to form a new union has today been thrown out by the AIRC, which found they were ineligible because they were independent contractors.
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley has sought to hose down claims that the party has softened its position on AWAs, telling Caucus this morning that ALP policy is unchanged.
Regulation of labour in Australia will get more complex, not simpler, under the Federal Government's proposed IR changes, according to Flinders University's Professor Andrew Stewart.
The NSW ALP is set to stiffen its resistance to the Howard Government's IR plans, with the party's State conference on the weekend to adopt a policy prohibiting companies holding contracts with Carr Government agencies from engaging workers under AWAs.
