NSW Premier Bob Carr has told the State's unions that absorbing the Department of IR into a new Commerce super-ministry wouldn't blunt the DIR's effectiveness.
The AMWU in Victoria is talking up its progress in the Campaign 2003 bargaining round, but the AIG remains confident that manufacturers are still refusing to consider key planks of the union's claim.
A senior member of the AIRC has made it clear that a lack of funds is not an acceptable excuse in unfair dismissal applications where directions haven't been complied with and no attempt made to seek an extension of time.
A full bench of the NSW IRC has flowed-on the federal reasonable hours test-case provision to state-covered employees, giving them the right to refuse to work unreasonably long hours.
In two separate drug and alcohol cases, a WA employee dismissed for refusing a urine test has won her unfair dismissal appeal, and the federal IRC has extended a policy trial at a NSW smelter.
In an important ruling, the AIRC has found it has the power to direct employers who intend to make an agreement to involve their employees' union in negotiations.
AWU's Terry Muscat dies; Hartcher back as NSW's Shadow IR Minister; six weeks paid parental leave for all WA public sector workers; and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott and the AWU's Bill Shorten to put on the gloves.
