The former Labor Government's changes to the modern award objective have made it impossible for 24/7 industries such as hospitality to successfully prosecute cases to abolish penalty rates and should be scrapped, according to the peak body for restaurant employers.
The Office of the Australian Small Business Commissioner is pushing for the full adult wage to be paid from the age of 18, questioning the rationale behind the IR system "deeming adulthood to commence at 21".
The ACTU will ask the Fair Work Commission for an extra 0.5% in award superannuation to compensate for the Abbott Government's freezing of Labor's scheduled increases to the guarantee levy, in its submission to this year's annual wage review to be lodged on Friday.
In his second major backdown on Australian Defence Force personnel pay and conditions, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has bumped up from 1.5% to an above-inflation 2% the annual wage increases payable under their three-year agreement.
Relying on improved economic and labour market conditions, the UK's Low Pay Commission has recommended that the Cameron Government increase Britain's minimum wage by 3%, well in excess of the forecast inflation rate.
Employers have told the Reserve Bank of Australia that workers appear willing to trade wage growth for greater job security, according to the institution's latest monetary policy statement.
The ANZ bank has offered annual pay rises of between 3.75% to 5.25% over two years if employees accept a new enterprise agreement, while threatening to pay a single annual increase of between 3% to 4.5% if it is rejected.
A property advisor tacitly accepted a revised employment contract that denied her any entitlement to lucrative post-termination commission payments, the Federal Circuit Court has ruled.
A Federal Court full bench has upheld a finding that the main retail award applies to delivery drivers employed by the online arm of supermarket giant Coles.
