Employment Minister Eric Abetz has declared that a frozen wage is better than no job, while refusing to comment on pay freeze deals being struck by individual employers.
A two-week lockout of CSR Gyprock workers has ended with the parties reaching an in-principle agreement, talks are scheduled for tomorrow in a bid to end a two-month lockout at building supplier Ausreo, and a nine-month standoff over unpaid allowances for Dubbo maintenance workers has been resolved in a new deal.
The CFMEU says it will keep pushing for shorter swing rosters on major resource construction projects, despite losing a push to introduce them for the Curtis Island LNG plants in Queensland.
In a dispute that could extend to the eastern seaboard, major stevedore DP World says it will lock out its Fremantle workforce tomorrow and subcontract its work to competitor, Patrick.
Department of Human Services employees look set to be the first to vote on an offer made under the Coalition's restrictive new public sector bargaining policy, with the CPSU warning the below-inflation pay and reduced conditions on the table are "early-warning signs" of what is ahead.
The FSU will push to flow on changes in performance pay agreed with the National Australia Bank into upcoming bargaining grounds at the other three big banks.
The Fair Work Commission will allow Patrick Stevedores to proceed with job cuts at the Port of Melbourne, after rejecting an MUA bid for an interim restraining order because the balance of convenience lay with the employer.
NSW Shadow IR Minister Adam Searle says the Baird Government has "busted" its wages cap with a new deal that goes beyond the 2.5% public service limit by paying for two-thirds of a recent massive rise in police officers' insurance premiums.
