The ACTU and the Victorian Government in supplementary submissions to the FWC's annual wage review have maintained their requests for real wage increases, while the AiG has fallen into line with ACCI and backed a freeze.
Unions are still in the dark about which NSW public servants would qualify for a $1000 frontline worker 'bonus' in lieu of a pay rise, while a health union has asked the State Treasurer to ditch a 2.5% wages cap before it puts the offer to members.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison's plan for a dialogue with unions and employers over changes to workplace laws has sparked a scramble among stakeholders to get a seat at the table.
The Labor Opposition has seized on a warning by Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe that the JobKeeper wage subsidy should not be phased out too soon, insisting it identifies the dangers of the government's "snap back" strategy.
The NSW Government has imposed a 12-month wage freeze on its 408,000-strong public sector workforce, but has provided a job security guarantee for the same period.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison's headland speech on a new approach to IR change extended an olive branch to unions by dropping the "ensuring integrity' legislation, but also raised the prospect of further measures to crack down on unlawful behaviour on construction sites.
The ACTU will head into the Morrison Government's JobMaker policy discussions with the aim of reducing insecure employment and extending paid pandemic leave.
Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter will chair five working groups with the aim of producing a "practical reform" of the IR system to help grow jobs as the economy emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reduction in JobKeeper recipients won't lift unemployment, says Treasury; Men more likely to seek early super release; Court reserves on COVID-19 regulation challenge; and NRL refs sideline FWC case.
The CFMMEU's court challenge to the COVID-19 reduction in notice periods for agreement changes opened this morning, with the union opposing IR Minister Christian Porter's bid to admit evidence on 30 recent variation applications, countering that he could deal with it by issuing a media release.
