The US National Labor Relations Board is considering whether to classify certain employees as “supervisors”. This is ostensibly on the basis that they sometimes direct the work of other employees — such as new staff, who need guidance while they learn the ropes. You might think this sounds like a good thing, as these workers [...]
The so-called Fair Pay Commission was set up to slash wages. Before it was established, the Industrial Relations Commission set minimum wage levels, and was required by legislation to maintain “a safety net of fair minimum wages and conditions of employment”. Under WorkChoices, there is no longer a fairness requirement. In case there was any [...]
Teenage staff at a Perth Domino’s Pizza outlets were forced to work for no pay, after the boss introduced a new policy to deal with lateness: for every minute a worker is late, they have to work five minutes for nothing. A poster announcing the policy told the workers: If you have a problem with [...]
In late February this year, over 400 workers on the Perth-Mandurah railway project walked off the job for twelve days. Their strike was to protest the sacking of their shop steward, Peter Ballard. His unfair dismissal claim was settled, he donated the payout to charity, and the Leighton-Kumagai joint venture said it wanted to put [...]
Is this the best they can do? Yesterday, Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews presented the case for the defence, launching a film of three “case studies” to illustrate how the new workplace relations system represents a “win-win” for employers and workers. However, one of the companies that stars in the video was convicted and fined [...]
The Howard Government continues to stack the courts and industrial tribunals with employer-biased appointments. The last one was Graeme Watson, who took up his new commission last week. More recently, the Government has installed several judges and magistrates on the Federal Court. It appointed Chris Jessup QC and Richard Tracey QC as judges — Workplace [...]
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