CFA appeals against AIRC decision for firefighters' ballot; NUW drops Blue Circle ballot; and Labour productivity easing because big gains exhausted, says Edwards.
After playing a significant role in advising the Howard Government last year on its strategy to counter the ACTU's anti-Work Choices campaign, consultancy firms Colmar Brunton Social Research Pty Ltd and Jackson Wells Morris Pty Ltd continued to win weighty contracts to sell the legislation, a government website has revealed.
Wage growth pressure eases as ACCI warns AFPC against "unsustainably high" minimum pay rise; Sydney casino workers protest for higher wage deal; ACCI warns against employer liability for gambling addiction; and ALP critical of Goward reappointment.
More has to be done to attract people into the occupations where skill shortages are most acute and to train them without unnecessary delay, Reserve Bank Governor Ian Macfarlane said today.
Administrators of Global Engineering Fasteners have closed their troubled Melbourne car parts maker Ajax Fasteners, standing down around 200 workers and threatening production at firms including Ford and Holden after the failure of a rescue plan today.
The AIRC has rebuffed an AEC request for a declaration that it won't breach penalty provisions in the Workplace Relations Act if it complies with provisions of a secret ballot order for the ABC.
The firefighters' union has won orders for a secret vote on industrial action after the AIRC rejected employer arguments that the wording of the ballot questions was too vague and imprecise to give members a meaningful choice.
Qantas has today ruled out sending its narrow-body heavy maintenance offshore and flagged it will be seeking significant productivity improvements from its long-haul pilots later this year, as it begins using AWAs in two start-up operations.
Sydney University has begun offering AWAs to its 6,000 academic and general staff that provide a 6% annual performance bonus as a lure away from the institution's collective agreements.
A voluntary administrator's rescue plan for Victorian car components maker Global Engineering Fasteners appears set to keep car manufacturers Holden and Ford in supply at least for the next two months under an in principle deal agreed today.