A Government-controlled parliamentary committee has today recommended further award simplification, removing restrictions on casual and part-time work from awards and agreements and axing FBT on childcare to improve participation in the workforce as the population ages.
In its last submission before it changes the minimum wage fixing process, the Federal Government has responded to the ACTU's claim for a $26.60-a-week increase in award rates by backing an $11-a-week increase for rates up to C10 in the metal industry award.
The looming federal IR changes are not radical - they're merely a logical evolution of the current system, Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews told a Gold Coast conference today, while the Labor and Democrats IR spokespersons suggested the Government should revise its strategy for achieving a unitary IR system.
Despite being under pressure from the ACTU to withdraw, the joint union organiser for the Pilbara, Will Tracey, says he will go ahead with his plan to run for the AWU's WA state secretary position.
The AMWU is holding delegates meetings this week and next throughout Australia on the Howard Government's coming IR changes, and the union's response to them.
Recent AIRC costs decisions show the dangers of going ahead with unfair dismissal cases that have poor prospects of success, while an AIRC full bench has rejected an Australian Taxation Office employee's bid to have a $19,000 unfair dismissal compensation payment replaced with an order for reinstatement.
Unions will declare a war of attrition on the Howard Government and employers if they don't genuinely engage with the labour movement to ensure that any post-July IR change is fair, ACTU leader Greg Combet warned a conference of mining employers yesterday.
The AMMA's new blueprint for IR change has as its centrepiece a new stand-alone Contract of Employment Act that would allow employers to opt out of the IR system and avoid unions if they make common law contracts that comply with a set of less than 10 minimum statutory requirements.
