All AWAs filed in the first month of the Work Choices regime expressly removed at least one protected award condition, while one in six excluded all of them and most jettisoned annual leave loading, penalty rates and shiftwork loadings, Employment Advocate Peter McIlwain told a Senate estimates hearing this evening.
A youth workers' lobby today launched itself as a "rebel" trade union, planning to use the bargaining agency powers of the Work Choices Act to represent workers in fast food and retail.
Melbourne barrister Tony Lawrence kicked off his work as Victoria's first Workplace Rights Advocate today, promising to turn the spotlight of publicity onto unscrupulous employers that exploit the opportunities of the Work Choices Act.
MUA's Wood retains entry permit; Stevedoring levy to end; More people working at home, says ABS; and Woolies wins long service leave case, but judge raises questions.
The NUW's leaders have been returned unopposed in union elections today that confirmed Antony Thow as Victorian branch secretary to replace Martin Pakula, who is standing for State Parliament.
AWAs that could eliminate overtime costs through the annualised hours provisions of Work Choices are being offered by stationery company Esselte Australia at its Sydney distribution centre, according to the NUW.
While the number of Australians working in the "non-traditional" sector has now reached 3.3 million, the sector's share of the total workforce has remained largely unchanged since 1998, according to the Productivity Commission.
Labor today used the Spotlight AWAs to accuse Prime Minister John Howard of selling out workers' rights for two cents an hour, in a parliamentary question time dominated by IR and East Timor, while the Government has used its numbers to defeat an Opposition bid to disallow the Work Choices Regulations.
