The Office of the Employment advocate is refusing to approve enterprise agreements that allow for union safety training, reinforcing Labor claims that the Work Choices Act will erode OHS standards, according to the CFMEU's mining and energy division.
The AWU yesterday agreed with High Court Justice Callinan's suggestion that the Commonwealth might have attempted at least some "window dressing" to explicitly link the Constitution's corporations power with Work Choices' provision to prohibit some types of workplace agreement clauses.
The 2006-07 Federal Budget boosts funding for the Office of Workplace Services from $7.4m to $32.3m and increases its staffing from 45 to 275, while the ABCC gets a rise of almost $11m to $33m a year.
The Commonwealth – like NSW on Thursday – was this afternoon subject to a barrage of questions when it began its High Court defence of Work Choices, with members of the bench challenging both its arguments and its dismissive treatment of the States’/unions’ submissions.
Howard praises AWU as ALP's Smith defends IR role; Public unlikely to accept guest worker programs: Report; Jobs data signals migration to online job advertising; Wage growth to "remain firm" but won't accelerate: RBA; Treasurer refuses Workplace Express access to Budget lock-up; and John Irving new secretary of NSW Teachers Federation.
The Huon Corporation today won a postponement of union meetings at its Empire Rubber auto parts plant in central Victoria after applying for an order against industrial action under s496 of the Work Choices Act.
The AMWU today won an order for a strike vote in the AIRC's first ruling on a contested secret ballot application for industrial action under the Work Choices Act.
Both Queensland and WA today appeared to make headway in the States' and unions' High Court IR challenge - Queensland with its argument that the corporations power couldn't regulate activities outside those that defined a corporation as such, and WA with its submission that the Work Choices exclusion of state and territory laws went too far.
Victoria this morning told the High Court that the Work Choices amendments should be found invalid because the Constitution's labour power limits the operation of the corporations power, on which the new laws are founded.
Unions NSW this afternoon targeted the Work Choices laws on registered organisations when it became the third party to appear in the state/union High Court challenge to the Federal Government's IR legislation.
