The ACTU has thrown its support behind workers employed by a Melbourne carpet maker that is seeking to terminate its enterprise agreement, saying it needs urgent attention, while a local Labor MP says IR Minister Tony Burke is "looking very seriously" at the broader issue.
RAFFWU says it is seeking to replicate a Sydney bookstore deal that it describes as the "most significant" retail agreement in Australia, the FWC approving it this week after the employer had a second shot at explaining it to members.
The FWC has this week approved a new agreement for the Australia Council of Social Service that lifts pay by the 4.6% rise in award minimum rates, provides new paid cultural and First Nations leave and enables employees to take a substitute public holiday for the January 26 "Invasion Day".
A proposed new agreement for the Australian Youth Climate Coalition provides substantial upfront pay rises and entitlements to five days paid climate disaster leave, 30 days paid gender affirmation leave and 12% super contributions, while it replaces workplace breastfeeding provisions with "chestfeeding" rights.
The FWC is set to pull the shutters down on what academics hailed as its "bold" decision to give more than four million award-covered workers access to unpaid leave and twice as much annual leave on half-pay in response to pandemic uncertainties.
The legislative changes five years ago to permit the FWC to overlook minor flaws in bargaining notices have failed to save an agreement for an indigenous health organisation.
The Perrottet Government in NSW says it is moving to massively increase fines for unlawful industrial action to send a "message" ahead of a teachers' strike, while a commissioner who blocked part of a PSA strike says it refused to meaningfully engage with the union on wages.
A finding that the FWC cannot keep dealing with disputes brought under old agreements once a new deal comes into effect has produced "arbitrary, anomalous and nonsensical outcomes" and is wrong, a full bench has held, calling for an amendment to the Fair Work Act to reflect the new precedent.
The Albanese Labor Government has confirmed today that it will legislate "as soon as possible" to incorporate 10 days' paid family and domestic violence leave into the National Employment Standards.
The FWC full bench hearing the aged care work value case is seeking feedback on its provisional view that pay rates in awards covering the sector's workforce have not been properly fixed, calling also for submissions on background documents by July 22.
