A state government that lost confidence in its mining warden did not breach his employment contract when it removed him from office, nor did it contravene trade practices laws when it originally offered him the role, a court has ruled.
NSW power unions are pushing for a job security clause to cover thousands of workers at the state's two biggest "poles and wires" network businesses, which have been earmarked for privatisation if the Coalition is returned in March.
Department of Veterans' Affairs employees are set to vote on industrial action, as the federal public sector bargaining round remains deadlocked and the Prime Minister says it is "unlikely" any agency will pay more than the sub-inflation agreement for defence force personnel.
The impact on public sector bargaining of the implied constitutional limitation on Commonwealth interference with state governments is still not well enough understood, according to long-serving CPSU Victoria secretary Karen Batt.
A maths teacher employed as a casual for one month is suing the public school's principal and his supervisor for defamation after they assessed him – using a pro forma departmental form - as suitable only for limited casual teaching roles.
A court has rejected a discrimination complaint from an indigenous graduate employee of the former DEEWR, after accepting that the department's prompt, reasonable and informal response to a racially offensive remark should have ensured the employee wasn't injured in the enjoyment of her work.
Tasmania's Hodgman Government has introduced draft legislation for its proposal to impose a 12-month freeze on the wages and incremental increases of the state's 24,000 public servants and remove the State IRC's power to award future pay increases above a 2% Government-set cap.
Department of Human Services employees look set to be the first to vote on an offer made under the Coalition's restrictive new public sector bargaining policy, with the CPSU warning the below-inflation pay and reduced conditions on the table are "early-warning signs" of what is ahead.
The NSW Government has had a victory in its long-running battle to include compulsory superannuation increases within the public sector 2.5% wage cap, after the State's Court of Appeal quashed last year's IRC ruling that the wages cap only applied to Commission-awarded increases.
NSW Shadow IR Minister Adam Searle says the Baird Government has "busted" its wages cap with a new deal that goes beyond the 2.5% public service limit by paying for two-thirds of a recent massive rise in police officers' insurance premiums.
