The construction watchdog's review of "cold cases" has identified another 14 cases where penalties were agreed through negotiation or discontinued, a Senate Estimates hearing has been told. Meanwhile, the Fair Work Ombudsman has rejected suggestions that it "washes its hands" of 457 visa complaints.
The Heydon Royal Commission will give parties advance warning of evidence in in which they are "substantially and directly interested", under the terms of a new practice note.
There is no reason why proceedings shouldn't be launched to deregister the CFMEU's construction and general division, according to former Royal Commissioner Roger Gyles, who says NSW's Greiner-Fahey Government should have taken up his recommendation to eradicate one of its former predecessors, the NSW BWIU.
Labor and the Greens have combined in the Senate today to defeat the Abbott Government's legislation to establish a Registered Organisations Commission and align penalties for union and employer association officials with corporations law.
The body charged with reviewing the Fair Work Act has suggested that centralised wage-setting under awards might hamper the effectiveness of market signals and lead to artificially inflated pay rates, in a recently-released report on labour mobility in Australia.
Former TWU national president and WA branch secretary Jim McGiveron has dismissed as "a complete fantasy" a claim by former AWU WA branch leader Ralph Blewitt that he was given $5000 cash in a brown paper bag to help win control of the transport union's state branch two decades ago.
The Heydon Royal Commission into trade unions will begin its public hearings with the former AWU official Ralph Blewitt, in evidence that is expected to touch on the role of former Prime Minister Julia Gillard as a young lawyer.
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.
The Abbott Government's Audit Commission report, released today, recommends axing the FWC's role in setting minimum wages, moving over a decade to a new, lower "minimum wage benchmark" of 44% of average weekly earnings, and allowing "regional variations" that would open up a gap of $100 a week between workers in Tasmania and those in four other states and territories.
The Fair Work Commission's President, Justice Iain Ross, has included himself on the default superannuation funds expert panel to "put beyond doubt" industry concerns about its composition.
