In the first change to the federal redundancy safety net in 20 years, a full bench of the AIRC has doubled to 16 weeks employees' maximum severance payment and, for the first time, extended a severance pay entitlement to small business employees, but capped at eight weeks.
The AIRC has certified an s170LJ agreement to cover about 50 employees of a Coca-Cola bottling plant in WA, but has refused to become involved in any disputes which may arise over its application.
In what appears to be an acknowledgment by the Howard Government that its Cole legislation will at best be heavily amended, Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews has today upgraded the building taskforce to a permanent body.
In a significant development in contract mining in WA, unions at BHPB's giant Yandi iron ore mine claim workers are standing firm against an AWA offer by Henry Walker Eltin, which has responsibility for the project.
The AIRC has found that the ABC breached its enterprise agreement when it refused to re-appoint former Radio National presenter Susanna Lobez to her role on The Law Report after a period of leave.
Mid-way through the inquiry into the Cole-based construction industry bill, the Democrats have again made it clear that they oppose one of the key aspects of the legislation - an industry specific regulator.
The Federal Court has issued an interlocutory injunction to stop the CFMEU's construction & general division from exercising the right it won in the State IRC last week to enter without notice the $650 million ammonia plant construction site in the State's north-west.
Results of a national survey released by HREOC today reveal 28% of women and 7% of men have experienced sexual harassment at some time of their working lives, while in a surprise finding, almost 20% of workplace harassment is perpetrated by women against men.
The SA Government was unable to convince the State's IRC this morning to halt public sector stoppages planned for this Friday as part of the PSA's push for a better wages offer.
