Prime Minister John Howard was recently under pressure over work and families policies, after a leaked cabinet minute said the onus should be on employers to show why they couldn’t offer part-time work to women returning from maternity leave
Prime Minister John Howard was recently under pressure over work and families policies, after a leaked cabinet minute said the onus should be on employers to show why they couldn’t offer part-time work to women returning from maternity leave. Labor accused the government of sitting on the report, but Prime Minister Howard said tax cuts, defence and national security took priority in last year’s budget. He denied his government had sat on the recommendations, but Deputy Opposition Leader Jenny Macklin said the Prime Minister was deliberately delaying introducing a national paid maternity leave scheme.
Marcus Evan’s HR Summit 2004 set for Gold Coast
Marcus Evans will be holding its third annual human resources summit between 17-19 March 2004 on the Gold Coast. The summit will deal primarily with the restructuring of the HR function to become a profit-oriented business centre, and is designed to assist senior-level HR executives in strategically aligning with the core business objectives. It features a number of high profile executive and HR figures from around Australia, including Flight Centre’s global peopleworks leader Mark Aponas, Vodafone’s director of brand and people Deborah Howcroft, Qantas executive general manager of people Kevin Brown and AstraZeneca managing director Jeays Lilley. For more information see page 25.
Council workers in hours win
The full bench of the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission recently approved a reduction of hours from 38 to 35 hours per week for professional and specialist workers in the community services sector in local government. The variation affects the range of workers in the professional/specialists band of the Local Government (State) Award, including child care centre directors, early childhood educators, children’s services managers and a diverse range of professional and specialist workers in areas of youth, age, disability, multicultural and Aboriginal services as well as social planning and other areas.
Low-paid foreign workers to receive $2,000 wage rise
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone recently announced that foreigners planning to work in Australia on temporary business visas will receive an extra $2,000 a year. This will see the minimum salary rise from $35,828 a year to $37,720 for most on temporary business visas, however professionals working in the information and communication technology field will receive a minimum salary of $46,620. Minister Vanstone said the changes reflect the average annual earnings for all Australian workers, and the higher salary threshold for experienced IT professionals reflects reduced demand in the industry.
Government introduces three workplace bills
The House of Representatives recently passed three Bills to amend the Workplace Relations Act. The Workplace Relations Amendment (Choice in Award Coverage) Bill seeks to free businesses with fewer than 20 employees from Federal awards if it has no union members. If the small business has union members, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission has to take into account the impact of binding the business to the terms and conditions of the award. The Workplace Relations Amendment (Simplifying Agreement Making) Bill 2002 would allow Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) to commence once signed but also provides for cooling off periods to allow employees to withdraw from AWAs. The Workplace Relations Amendment (Termination of Employment) Bill 2002 would expand the coverage of Federal unfair dismissal laws from 50 per cent to 85 per cent of the national workforce.
Irresponsible bouncers deserve boot: union
Night clubs, pubs and entertainment centres should be forced to take more responsibility for the quality of security and crowd control at the their venues, according to the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union (LHMU). Security workers and their union are concerned that the current proposals are just a little too easy on the venues, said LHMU security union representative Terry Breheny. The union is advocating a ‘three-strikes-and-you’re-out policy’ to ensure that the venues take a more responsible stance when employing crowd controllers and security companies. He said entertainment venues are too often more interested in the bottom line and many tend to look the other way, or even ignore the behaviour of the security companies who they may sign up.
