In the week that new Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt will rush new legislation into parliament to force the law-breaking, scandal-plagued CFMEU into independent administration, it is somewhat ironic that the industrial relations system re-regulation undertaken by his predecessor Tony Burke is helping extend union coverage into Western Australia’s iron ore industry.
As The Australian Financial Review reports today, for the first time in more than a decade BHP has been forced to start negotiating a union enterprise agreement in its iron ore operations in the Pilbara. The unions say that now that the “industrial relations system has changed”, Rio Tinto should also drop its resistance to following BHP to the bargaining table.
Loading...
The Australian Financial Review’s succinct take on the principles at stake in major domestic and global stories – and what policy makers should do about them.
