The Minns Labor Government has introduced IR changes that "remove the power to cap wages for good" and replace it with a "mutual gains bargaining" system, while also boosting the NSW IRC's powers and restoring it as an integrated court and tribunal.
Legislation introduced to Federal Parliament today to protect workers who bring sexual harassment claims from costs orders in most circumstances marks the "final legislative reform" in implementing the recommendations of the landmark Respect@Work report, according to the Albanese Government.
As the Albanese Government pushes for the passage of its Closing Loopholes legislation that provides new protections for "employee-like" workers, the ABS has revealed its first "experimental estimates" indicating that digital platform workers account for 1% of the working population and most commonly perform food delivery and personal transport tasks.
Employment rights legal centre JobWatch says a client survey suggests most employers are failing to take internal complaints of workplace sexual harassment and discrimination seriously or to adequately protect employees, prompting recommendations to expand positive duty and vicarious liability provisions, and actively monitor compliance.
Employers are using the new intractable bargaining declaration provisions to undercut pay and conditions by trying to revisit agreed terms, which is inconsistent with the legislation's aim of breaking bargaining deadlocks, United Firefighters Union national secretary Peter Marshall told the Loopholes inquiry this morning.
The Albanese Government's promised amendments to casual employment laws will do almost nothing to address employer concerns, according to legal advice from law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth, while Workpac says it is concerned about "deeply troubling" comments on the casuals provisions by a senior DEWR official.
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has agreed to change the way the Closing Loopholes Bill regulates gig economy workers, including a requirement that the FWC set minimum standards that reflect their engagement as independent contractors, while the Senate has today passed single-issue IR Bills split-off from the legislation.
Queensland Council of Unions secretary Jacqueline King says Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke is "receptive" to calls for new gender equity laws replicating the State's legislation that has "made more of a difference" in its first year than in the previous two decades under the Queensland IRC's equal remuneration principle.
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.