ALP senators today questioned the representative status of the Independent Contractors Association during the final day of the two-day Senate Inquiry into the independent contractors legislation - and tabled a memo in which executive director Ken Philips said it was "becoming clear that the detail of the Bill will be of WorkChoices disaster proportions".
New Liberal Senator Corey Bernardi - who replaced former minister Robert Hill in May - has flagged possible amendments to the Federal Government's Independent Contractors Bill to establish a federal small claims jurisdiction.
The NSW Road Transport Association has this morning acknowledged to the Senate Inquiry into the federal independent contractors legislation that there may be an initial "rush to the bottom" if the Federal Government reverses its earlier decision to exempt NSW and Victorian owner-drivers.
A major employer has failed to strike out a discrimination case by a sales representative with an alleged gambling addiction who was denied salary maintenance when she suddenly moved from Melbourne to Perth to escape Victoria's poker machines.
The Federal Government's construction industry watchdog has secretly interviewed 28 people under the threat of imprisonment since last October - more than half in Western Australia where it is prosecuting workers on the troubled Perth to Mandurah rail project.
AIRC adopts interim rules for Work Choices era; High Court hears states' challenge to national self-insurance scheme; RBA cites tight labour market as reason for today's interest rate rise; Tasmanian Working Women's Centre to close; and Employers encouraging former employees to return.
Unions will hold their next major anti-Work Choices protest at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on November 30 under a deal between the VTHC and the Melbourne Cricket Club.
Some 2,700 employees of Coles Myer subsidiary OfficeWorks have won a 3.5% annual pay rise under a proposed new deal with the SDA that gives the company more rostering flexibility during peak times.
Major construction player John Holland was the first company to lodge a Work Choices employer greenfields agreement, and it has since gone on to register five more.
