The MEU has today lodged the first "same job, same pay" application, for labour hire workers at a Queensland coal mine, promising it will be the first of many.
A leading IR legal expert says Victoria's selection as host jurisdiction for a harmonised labour hire licensing scheme and National Labour Hire Regulator is a "fitting reflection" of its contribution in recent years, but the industry peak body has expressed disappointment and surprise.
A business that knowingly and repeatedly breached labour hire licensing laws has been fined more than $600,000, which is believed to be the highest in Australian labour hire law history.
The Qantas "weaponisation" of labour hire underlines the need for the "same job, same pay" provisions in Labor's Closing Loopholes legislation, according to the airline's flight crew union.
The Closing Loopholes Bill is unlikely to reduce reliance on long-term casual employment and will not expose employers to "unnecessary uncertainty", a leading IR law academic says, contradicting barrister Stuart Wood's recent advice to the BCA.
The new WA Labor Premier, Roger Cook, has written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to warn that he should consider industry concerns that the Closing Loopholes legislation might damage the mining and resources sector.
A court has refused to grant a self-represented on-hire worker a second extension of time to pursue his "confusing" adverse action case, finding too many gaps in his explanation for a 10-week delay during which he badgered the FWC to arbitrate the matter and travelled overseas.
BHP has accused the Albanese Government of "blatantly" seeking to undermine the FWC's independent decision-making by declaring the company's Operations Services internal labour hire arm a key target of the Closing Loopholes legislation.
Resources employer group AREEA says the Loopholes Bill's labour hire provisions lack a proper exemption for specialist contractors and will kill off the use of on-hire workers, despite Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke's assurances that the drafting would take "very full account" of its concerns.
