The Employment Advocate, whose office is responsible for the registration of industrial agreements, appeared before a Senate estimates committee on Monday. His evidence shows that WorkChoices is already being used by bosses to slash working conditions. The OEA surveyed a representative sample of 250 of the 6263 AWAs lodged since WorkChoices kicked in, and found: [...]
Young victorians in the retail and fast food industries are being asked to support a new, militant union, Unite. Unite has been campaigning in Melbourne since August 2003, with the backing of the Victorian Trades Hall Council. Its previous activities mainly involved naming bad employers and raising community awareness of the problems facing casual workers. [...]
WA Police have been forced to admit that their prosecution of a union official was unfair and unnecessary. CFMEU assistant secretary Joe McDonald was charged two years ago with “making a threat with intent to compel” for something he said on a building site. And what was it he said? That workers might go on [...]
Retail giant Spotlight will force new employees to sign an AWA that scraps overtime, weekend and public holiday loadings in exchange for just 2 cents an hour above the award rate, which means staff will stand to lose a lot of money compared to the existing collective agreement: Labor yesterday went on the attack in [...]
With the Socceroos about to kick off in the World Cup, it’s important to remind people that the excitement and glamour of professional soccer is made possible by the massive exploitation of workers around the world. Oxfam has published an important report, Offside! Labour Rights and Sportswear Production in Asia, which exposes the brutal conditions [...]
The Catholic Bishop of Parramatta, Kevin Manning, recently addressed a meeting of 160 NSW Police union delegates. He had a challenging message for them: A just society cannot expect its police force to enforce laws that undermine human dignity. Bishop Manning was talking specifically about the WorkChoices legislation: [T]he new industrial landscape presented a moral [...]
Writing in today’s Crikey newsletter, Christian Kerr reported an interesting rumour: A way to hose down IR. Will Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews be stepping down at the next election? It’s been said in the corridors. Andrews has had a good innings – an MP since a 1991 by-election. He’s a strong family man who’s [...]
A swanky Sydney private school — the kind that still teaches Latin — has been accused of “putting itself up as the WorkChoices school” by forcing senior teachers to reapply for their jobs and agree to work longer hours, or face the sack. Newington College wants its teachers to work an extra four weeks per [...]
The independent inquiry into the Beaconsfield disaster has been announced: The Tasmanian government released the terms of reference into the inquiry, which will probe whether activities at the Beaconsfield gold mine contributed to the fatal rockfall that killed Mr Knight, and trapped Mr Russell and Mr Webb for 14 days. The inquiry will be able [...]
Kevin Andrews announced a new Vice President of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission today. Graeme Watson will take up the vacancy in June. In case you needed to be told, Watson has “over 20 years experience advising and representing large employers on industrial relations and employment issues”, with an emphasis on “culture change based on [...]
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