A crucial test of the new Queensland IR Act's contractor deeming provisions will now proceed, after the State's Supreme Court dismissed an employer bid to throw out the case.
Unions seeking to use shareholder power to influence the policies of public companies will be heartened by a direction from Australia's corporate regulator, the ASIC, to five major shareholders of Rio Tinto to disclose the organisations which hold shares in the mining company.
In a move that the gas and oil production industry will watch closely, the MUA has applied to the IRC to change its rules so it can formally cover offshore oil and gas production workers in the Bass Strait.
In a last-ditch bid to avert a 24-hour teachers' strike on Thursday, NSW IRC Deputy President Peter Sams has given the NSW Teachers Federation until 12.30 tomorrow to call off the strike.
Employers and unions concerned at the erosion of skill-based pay relativities from flat dollar safety net adjustments will be heartened by the IRC's living wage decision, which, while awarding a $15 flat rise for the low paid, canvasses a return to percentage-based increases.
In a case that deals with whether in-the-field-bargaining prevents the IRC making a safety net award, a full bench of the Commission has rejected LHMU arguments that the CCI of Western Australian initiated sham bargaining periods on behalf of contract cleaners to avoid a first award for the industry.
Aluminium producer Comalco plans to reduce lost time injuries (LTIs) by at least 50% a year over the next two years, according to its chair, John Morschel.
