Agreements and bargaining page 173 of 175

Private sector agreements approved in the December quarter provided average pay rises of 3.6% a year, slightly up on the 3.5% annual increase recorded in the September quarter, according to Department of Employment data released today.

The Fair Work Commission has held that the "genuinely trying" test is not a "moral" code and has granted the MUA protected ballot orders despite accepting that an employer was "rightly aggrieved" by its bargaining conduct.

Victoria will seek to terminate ambulance action that affects community safety; RBA says wages subdued; WPI growing at slowest recorded pace; Discipline policy overrides custom: decision upheld; Up to $7 trillion of super could fund infrastructure growth by 2030: report shows; Vale Kathrine (Kath) Nelson; and Correction to article about WA minister.

A Fair Work Commission full bench has ruled that only employees who will immediately be covered by an enterprise agreement are entitled to vote on its approval, not employees who are likely to be covered in the future.

Ferguson pushes for special long-horizon agreements for resource projects; National IR survey returns after hiatus of almost 20 years; Tables compare FWC bullying regime with other forums for complaints; ABCC Digest available questions whether legislation matters; Mammone leaves ACCI; and Absence of final arbitration in Act favours employers, says study.

The Abbott Government has presented its first tranche of changes to the Fair Work Act to Parliament today, including proposals to free up greenfields impasses, expand the subject matter of IFAs, wind back the ALP's right of entry changes and require bargaining before protected action.

Rail company Aurizon has locked out its freight drivers in NSW's Hunter Valley in response to their 48-hour strike that began at midday yesterday.

The FWC has ordered the United Firefighters' Union to comply with good faith bargaining obligations in its negotiations with Victoria's Country Fire Authority, while the union has lodged an appeal against the Federal Court's ruling that clauses requiring the CFA to employ additional firefighters and conduct recruitment are unconstitutional.

The MUA and AMMA are accusing each other of shifting the goalposts in the drawn-out bargaining round for vessel operators in the offshore oil and gas industry, with the union to begin a 48-hour stoppage at pacesetting Tidewater Marine on Friday.

Changes to greenfields agreement provisions in the bill expected to be introduced by Employment Minister Eric Abetz next week will cut negotiation time from five months to three for major projects and cut business administration costs by $14.4 million a year, according to his department's regulation impact statement.