Outgoing ACTU president Jennie George has called for new restrictions on regular and "permanent" casual work, just days after Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith pronounced that there is "no casualisation crisis" in Australia .
An IRC full bench has confirmed that sacked employees are entitled to claim damages for shock, humiliation and distress under the Workplace Relations Act, but found such compensation will only be available in "extraordinary" cases.
Defence Department employees have convincingly rejected a non-union enterprise agreement, after the CPSU urged a no vote on the basis that the 10.5% pay increase over three years wouldn't compensate workers sufficiently if the GST led to inflation blowing out.
The Community and Public Sector has lodged an appeal against a Federal Court ruling that found regularly-rostered employees at a Victorian prison were casuals.
The Shop Union is beginning a push to negotiate a greenfields enterprise agreement with Aldi Foods Pty Ltd, the secretive German grocery chain that commentators say will be establishing 20 no-frills supermarkets in NSW.
The Shop Union has asked the IRC to reject a non-union agreement for OPSM, alleging the company's managers undermined an independently-run secret ballot by voting on behalf of some employees, asking others to verbally indicate their voting intention, and failing to give some the opportunity to vote.