Howard Government Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith, the architect of the 1996 Workplace Relations Act and a prime mover with Patrick's Chris Corrigan in the landmark 1998 waterfront dispute, died today.
Rio Tinto has agreed to sell its NSW coal interests – including the Coal & Allied operations that were at the centre of the late 1990s battle of the IR "titans" – to Chinese interests for $3.2 billion ($US2.45 billion).
With Employment Minister Eric Abetz signalling he intends to cold-call, rather than advertise, to fill Fair Work Commission vacancies, the AMMA is today arguing it is people with employer backgrounds whose numbers he should be dialling.