Victorian IR Minister Monica Gould has referred yesterday's IR taskforce final report for an economic impact study, to determine the cost of its recommendations, before proceeding with any changes.
In another major blow against outsourcing, a union has successfully used the WR Act's freedom of association provisions to win a class action against a Victorian council that made its home care workers redundant and contracted out their work.
The Victorian IR taskforce has recommended a significant re-regulation of IR in the State, including setting up a new Fair Employment Tribunal with mediation, conciliation and arbitration powers.
In a landmark shift for BHP, the company has elevated HR to a top priority issue, telling its annual financial analysts' briefing that its "biggest opportunity" lies in cultural change.
A dismissed Australian-based Microsoft HR director will net a record compensation payout of up to $14 million, after the NSW IRC found he had the right to access share options the company had denied him.
The IRC has set down a series of crucial threshold questions in the Campaign 2000 bargaining period termination case that hold the key to whether the AiG's bid to restrict industry-wide bargaining will be played out in the Commission or the Parliament.
The MEAA and Fairfax have brokered a cooling-off period until Thursday midnight, after an all-night picket line stopped almost the full production run of The Age's bumper Saturday edition from reaching newsagents.
Victoria's Premier, Steve Bracks, has pre-empted the report of the IR taskforce set up by his Government, revealing the taskforce would recommend taking back some of the IR powers referred to the Commonwealth and establishing a system of voluntary mediation.
Unions are embarking on a new campaign to ensure workers' shareholdings - direct and held in super funds - are not used against their broad long-term interests.
Victoria's public sector nurses have won a one-off 3.5% pay increase plus a further 9% over three years, with the IRC accepting union arguments that there was a "crisis" in the industry that had to be addressed.
