ACTU secretary Dave Oliver has used a behind-closed-doors speech to call for employers to work with unions on a "new vision for jobs in Australia" rather than supporting the Abbott Government's IR agenda.
With legal avenues exhausted in their battles with the NSW government over public sector wages, superannuation and redundancy, unions have today lodged a complaint with the ILO and requested a formal investigation into the state's bargaining laws.
The NSW nurses' union will mount a High Court challenge to the state government's proposed election funding changes if they get through the Upper House this week, maintaining they deliberately curb third parties' political activity.
The ACTU says unions will restart their campaign against James Hardie if it fails to top-up the compensation scheme for sufferers of asbestos-related diseases.
The Queensland Government has repealed its requirement for unions to conduct a ballot of members before engaging in any political campaigning worth more than $10,000.
Australia has been named as a "country of concern" at the opening of the third congress of the International Trade Union Confederation in Berlin, along with more usual targets of criticism.
The ACTU has called for the Heydon Royal Commission to investigate all political slush funds, after the revelations of NSW Liberal Party donations that have emerged from the state's Independent Commission Against Corruption.
