Industrial relations is the one area of public policy that traditionally marks a major fault line between the Coalition parties and Labor. It is also one area of policy where neither side finds it easy…
There are sound business reasons for supporting staff with cancer.
Michael Lokner
Cancer is now the leading cause of death and disability in Australia. One in two males and one in three females living to the age of 85 in Australia receives a cancer diagnosis at some stage in his or…
Employment Minister Bill Shorten says the Fair Work Act review shows the regime doesn’t impact negatively on productivity.
Perceptions of widespread union militancy in Australia’s industrial relations environment is generally unfounded, according to the University of Melbourne’s Professor of Management, Peter Gahan. Recommendations…
Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten has ruled out making any sweeping changes to the Fair Work Act.
AAP
The post implementation review of the Fair Work Act, 2009, was released this afternoon. A three member panel – Professor Ron McCallum, Dr John Edwards and Michael Moore – produced the three hundred–odd…
Equal pay is not the only obstacle women face in the labour market: there’s also higher unemployment, underemployment, and heightened risk of job insecurity.
Victor
The quest for equal pay between men and women represents one of the oldest battle lines for feminism. The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) finds that women’s wages are now 17.4…
Westpac chief Gail Kelly was the first female CEO of a major Australian bank or top 15 company.
AAP/Dean Lewins
Australian businesses should set managers “challenging gender targets” and hold them accountable for the proportion of women in their work units, say the authors of a three-year study into gender equality…
Study participants were less likely to consider obese women for jobs.
Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity
People who worry about their appearance are more likely to discriminate against obese people, a new study has found. Researchers gave bogus resumes to 102 university students and asked them to discuss…
Many economic and social commentators, including the University of Canberra’s Josh Fear on The Conversation yesterday, continue to express concern about the number of hours many Australians spend doing…
Workers are finding it increasingly difficult to leave work on time or enjoy their free time.
Flickr/Floris M. Oosterveld
Today is national Go Home on Time Day, the one day of the year that you can work the hours you are paid for and no more – without feeling guilty. Since The Australia Institute first declared Go Home on…
After 20 years of enterprise bargaining, are we seeing an unintended return to compulsory arbitration?
AAP
With the threat of further industrial action at Qantas looming and Victorian nurses continuing with their rolling work bans, you could be forgiven for thinking that Australia has entered a new phase of…
In debate over the Qantas IR dispute, the truth of the Fair Work Act is the elephant in the room.
AAP
The drawn-out dispute between Qantas and unions that led to the airline’s entire fleet being grounded over the weekend has sparked calls for reform of Australia’s industrial relations laws. Business leaders…
Tony Abbott has tough decisions to make on workplace reform before the next election.
AAP
In one of the most significant moments of the 2010 federal election campaign, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott declared the Coalition’s unpopular WorkChoices policy “dead, buried, cremated.” In an interview…
Last week’s Equal Pay Day highlighted the fact that despite decades of supposed reform, women’s average full-time weekly earnings remains 17.2% below men. Is this obvious to our employers? Worryingly…
New research suggests a bit of clutter actually helps us be more productive.
Flickr/Maggiejumps
BHP copped a fair amount of flak for a leaked memo which outlined its daunting list of rules about employee behaviours. BHP’s “office environment standard” reportedly includes making staff remove post-it…
Few in the Liberal party are keen to see a potentially damaging return to the workplace debate.
AAP
With political debate dominated by carbon and mining taxes, the recent stirrings by Peter Reith about industrial relations may have come as a bit of a surprise – out of left field, if you will excuse the…
Incoming Director of the Australian Institute of Business and Economics at UQ, and Professor of Management, Faculty of Business and Economics, Macquarie University
Professor of Gender, Work and Employment Relations, ARC Future Fellow, Business School, co-Director Women, Work and Leadership Research Group, University of Sydney