Andrews' pay goes up 4.1%, but argues low paid should get 2.4%; University and TAFE employees begin protests against second wave tomorrow; Appaloosa employees lose their jobs, but have till Thursday to sign AWAs with labour hire company; NSW IRC refuses backpay to cover strike during bargaining; Pro forma retrenchment letter suggested employer was "going through the motions"; Full bench clarifies calculation of car benefit for unfair dismissal claims; Hudson recommends five measures to help employers improve work-life balance in the workplace; and AIRC rejects employer dismissal appeal lodged nine months late.
An Australian Bureau of Statistics executive sacked for manipulating the organisation's footy tipping competition has got his job back, following an AIRC ruling.
The Federal Workplace Relations Minister, Kevin Andrews, has defended his Government's planned second wave of IR reforms as "firmly in line with Christian principles".
NSW IRC to arbitrate dispute over outsourcing and AWAs; Catholic agency claims PM's favoured research on income inequality is wrong; and Former NSW IRC member to head panel to define what "worker" means.
The new AWA provisions in the Howard Government's second wave of IR change will render awards all but irrelevant, by allowing employers to offer individual contracts that remove all existing conditions except for the five new legislated minima, according to Sydney barrister Ingmar Taylor.
At least seven out of every 10 employees oppose the Howard Government's plans to remove unfair dismissal remedies, sideline the AIRC and reduce the ability of unions to collectively bargain, according to a survey commissioned by the ACTU.
The announcement yesterday of the Howard Government's plans for a federal takeover of state IR has revived talk about a High Court challenge by unions and the states, but no-one, even among the potential challengers, is bullish about the chances of overturning a unitary system based on the corporations power.
As unions come to grips with the extent of the overhaul of Australia's IR system announced yesterday by the Prime Minister, John Howard, the fightback has already begun, with Unions NSW this morning conducting a state-wide delegates meeting via a live Sky Channel hook-up.
While employers today welcomed the Howard Government's planned sweeping changes to IR law, unions maintained they were ideologically driven, unfair and would lead to the creation of a US-style working poor.
The Prime Minister, John Howard, has today moved towards realising his long-held ambition to radically deregulate Australia's industrial relations system, announcing a series of measures in the Coalition's second wave of IR reform - including gutting the AIRC, lowering the benchmark for all agreement-making and removing the majority of employees' unfair dismissal entitlement - that goes even further than anticipated.
