Major Australian car makers baulked at signing a rescue package for parts maker Huon Corporation last night, continuing a strike at its Victorian operations and threatening further stand downs, including in the South Australian car industry.
More than 500 striking workers at Huon's Bendigo and Frankston plants in Victoria have voted to return to work tomorrow conditional upon seven car manufacturing and components companies agreeing to new order contracts.
Fair Pay Commission chair Ian Harper has today played down the significance of research on links between employment levels and minimum wages that the AFPC commissioned from the University of Canberra's labour economist Professor Phil Lewis.
The ACCI has today adopted a new 10-point skilled migration policy, with its general council at the same time calling on the ALP to drop key planks of its IR policy, including abolishing AWAs.
While the ALP and unions are attacking Work Choices by highlighting its impact on individual employees, Prime Minister John Howard last night continued with his strategy of seeking to instead put Australia's economic performance centre-stage of the IR debate.
The AIRC has this afternoon resumed a conference with the administrators of Huon Corp, its major customers and unions, after five hours of talks last night.
The NSW Supreme Court has ordered a sales manager not to contact his former clients or try to entice away his former colleagues, after finding he breached a confidentiality clause in his employment contract when he went to work for a direct competitor.
Australian full-time employees are putting in longer hours than they were 20 years ago, but the growth in the proportion of both men and women doing part-time work means that fewer hours overall are being worked now, the ABS has found.
ACCI defends push for Work Choices amendments; Supreme Court continues Perth-Mandurah injunctions; Harper rejects media reports on awards classifications decision; and Odco system owner criticises changes to Independent Contractor legislation.
