It might be a barbecue stopper in Australia, but in the UK the work/life balance has been the source of a lot of action as well as talk, with a UK academic describing the pace of change there as "dizzying" since the Blair Government came to power.
The President of the AIRC, Justice Geoffrey Giudice, has again spoken out in favour of rationalising and simplifying Australia's industrial laws, saying the existing system advantaged the party with the greater resources.
Patrick Stevedores faces substantial penalties and legal costs, after the NSW IRC (in Court Session) today found it guilty of five breaches of the NSW OHS Act over the work practices it introduced on its giant straddle cranes immediately after the 1998 waterfront dispute.
Amendments to workplace legislation in the ACT are making waves at federal level, with Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews introducing legislation to shield federal agencies from the Territory's new industrial manslaughter laws and the Federal Opposition ruling out support for the introduction of portable long service leave.
The Federal Government has granted a last minute extension to construction industry employers who stood to be caught from today by the new requirement to pay fringe benefits tax on contributions to employee entitlement funds.
With anti-discrimination legislation proving limited, a Sydney academic today said that contract law could provide an effective tool for employees seeking to enforce employer promises of work/life balance.
Emerson re-introduces good faith bargaining bill and to speak at National Press Club; Noye takes over as FSU's assistant secretary; MUA members to stop work on April 6; Discrimination laws too soft on recruitment and selection, says paper; Bills digest canvasses sunset clause for legislation allowing male-only scholarships; Fedex ordered to pay US$3.2m for sexually discriminating and retaliating against female driver; and finalists announced for work and family awards.
A Latham Labor Government would introduce a means-tested 14-week "baby care payment" that would pay the equivalent of the federal minimum wage, after a five-year phase-in, to "the vast majority" of mothers regardless of whether they are in paid work.
A senior member of the SA IRC has raised serious practical difficulties with the concept of joint employment, in a ruling that might influence the final form of the State's Fair Work Bill.
Governments will have to boost funding for family care to allow women to increase their participation in the workforce as the population ages, according to a visiting UK professor who will speak at a work and family conference in Brisbane on Thursday.
