The ACTU will push for the Fair Work Commission's four-year modern award review to create a common clause giving more than two million casual workers the right to become permanent employees.
The Napthine Government has introduced more stringent requirements for companies tendering for public sector construction work under a new code and has imposed its first sanction on a builder since guidelines took effect in 2012.
In the first real IR test of the post-July 1 Senate's precarious balance of power, Palmer United Party senators voted with their Coalition colleagues last night to preserve, by one vote, the rights of the WA government and third parties to ask the Fair Work Commission to terminate damaging industrial action.
The Abbott Government this morning introduced a Bill in the House of Representatives to cap redundancy payments under the Fair Entitlements Guarantee scheme at a maximum of 16 weeks, describing the current benefits for employees of insolvent companies as "overly generous" and as creating a "moral hazard".
Family First Senator Bob Day has used his first speech to parliament to press his argument for allowing job seekers to opt out of the regulated IR system if it will help them get work.
The Law Council has come out against the Coalition's proposed creation of an independent appeal jurisdiction for the Fair Work Commission, saying the current mechanisms "do not need to be altered".
Employment Minister Eric Abetz has told the AiG and others lobbying for accelerated IR change to take a "deep breath" and focus on what is already on the table.
Senior Victorian Government Minister Robert Clark has told the HR Nicholls Society that he has drawn on all three of his portfolios to combat bad behaviour in the building industry and has flagged changes to strengthen the guidelines for contractors seeking state government work.
