The ACTU has revealed it currently has an equity stake of less than 1% in the Virtual Communities venture that provides a PC and internet access to union members for around $10 a week. The Workplace Express team is reporting live from the ACTU Congress in Wollongong. For more Congress news go to www.workplaceexpress.com.au
Unions this morning will decide whether to support AMWU national secretary Doug Cameron's calls for a fair trade policy, setting up a showdown with the ALP at the party's national conference.
The ACTU's executive could increase to 60 after ACTU Congress approved changes to ensure at least 50% representation by women. The "special affirmative action mechanism", will add up to 21 women to the executive.
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley has used his address to the ACTU's Congress to flesh out the good faith bargaining obligations Labor has promised to introduce if returned to Government.
In his address to the ACTU's Congress, Opposition Leader Kim Beazley has committed the ALP to putting core labour standards on the agenda of the World Trade Organisation, but rebuffed calls for fair rather than free trade.
ACTU secretary Greg Combet has proposed setting upper limits on working hours at the workplace or industry level, in response to employee concerns about excessive hours and unpaid overtime.
In a rallying cry to the ACTU Congress, the head of America's peak labour body, the AFL-CIO, has outlined a radical shift in the US union movement to activism and challenging global capital. For more Congress articles, go to www.workplaceexpress.com.au
The process of deciding the shape of the ACTU's living wage claim will now involve the grassroots of the labour movement, after the Congress accepted an amendment from the floor.
