The appointment of the first woman member of the South Australian IRC has been overshadowed by criticism from employers and unions over the Government's flouting of convention in making two other appointments.
The South Australian Supreme Court has ruled an employee was entitled after leaving her employer to retain confidential client information she had written into her address book and diary and to then use that information to approach clients.
While the union movement's targeting of call centres has received a lot of attention, the counterpart to its activist agenda is that employers in the growth industry have also been looking for collective representation, and the AiG has stepped up to the role.
The CFMEU (mining & energy division) has notified Yallourn Energy that it is taking further industrial action this week, as the company prepares to argue that the bargaining periods covering its Latrobe Valley power generator should be terminated.
Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith has not given up on amending the WR Act to provide a greater role for private mediation despite his proposals being rejected last year along with the rest of his second-wave bill.
The metal industry unions in Victoria have notified icon company Email that it will be subject to a one-day state-wide strike next week, in the first sign of significant industrial action since Campaign 2000 officially began on July 1.
The FSU says it wants a larger guaranteed pay increase than the Commonwealth Bank's revised offer of 6.5% over two years plus performance pay - up from its original 4% plus performance pay offer.
The Productivity Commission has raised doubts about the widely-held view that precarious employment is on the rise, after a Commission research paper identified that ABS data overestimates numbers of casuals by 100%.
Intensive monitoring, poor training and support and substandard work environments are causing high stress levels among call centre workers and reducing their ability to provide quality customer service, a major national survey has shown.
