Leading online jobs marketplace SEEK has told a Senate inquiry into the future of work that Australians face a "significant shock" as technological forces continue to drive wages down, while the Productivity Commission has warned that digital disruption might ultimately require the introduction of a universal basic income.
The "near disappearance" of industrial action over recent decades is strongly correlated with the "deceleration" of wages growth, according to the new analysis released by the Centre for Future Work just days after the FWC halted the planned Sydney train strike.
Employers who defy orders to pay superannuation to their employees will face jail terms of up to 12 months under draft legislation unveiled today by the Turnbull Government.
The IR portfolio has been demoted in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's reshuffle this afternoon, with the role given to a new junior minister, Craig Laundy.
FWC President Iain Ross is proposing to delay starting the next four-yearly review of awards that is due to begin "as soon as practicable" after January 1, but is seeking parties' views on the issue.
Labor's audacious bid to restore penalty rates in the retail and hospitality sectors by piggy-backing one of the Federal Government's own IR bills fell at the first hurdle today, when rebel Nationals MP George Christensen indicated he could not support legislation that failed to protect businesses from back-pay claims.
South Australia's Weatherill Labor Government will continue to push for national laws regulating labour hire, even though the state this week passed its own laws.
Employment Minister Michaelia Cash faces another grilling in Senate Estimates hearings over the AFP's raids on the AWU at the behest of the Registered Organisations Commission.
The Turnbull Government has listed two contested IR Bills for the debate in the Senate next week, setting it at odds with union calls to hold back controversial legislation until the citizenship status of MPs is clarified.
