The AWU's Victorian branch received up to $25,000 a year from a Spotless Group subsidiary under a memorandum of understanding that meant cleaners were not paid penalty rates, the Heydon Royal Commission heard today.
Tensions over the new national agreement covering Coles supermarkets has boiled over into angry public exchanges between officials from the SDA and the meatworkers' union.
The TWU has called for greater rights for foreign workers on temporary visas, with criminal sanctions to be imposed on employers who exploit them and illegally undercut wages.
Modern award transfer of business provisions that guarantee a new employer's recognition of prior service are set to be adjusted after a FWC full bench found they conflict with the National Employment Standards.
The Greens will refer allegations of exploitation of foreign workers on farms and in food processing plants to a Senate inquiry into the working visa system, according to its IR spokesperson, Adam Bandt.
The Fair Work Commission has ruled that a casual conversion right in a company's enterprise agreement extends to labour hire employees and is a "permitted matter" under the Fair Work Act.
Australia's largest rail freight operator, Aurizon, has been ordered to provide the full pro-rata rate of pay to a train driver who was to receive a reduced amount under a compassionate grounds/short-term medical disability clause when she returned part-time from maternity leave.
A judge has raised questions about the FWBC's exercise of discretion in its failed pursuit of a "very small" business for sham contracting, but has accepted that the watchdog didn't initiate the case without reasonable cause.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has found links between the former Victorian Coalition Government's budget cuts and public sector employment practices that could have breached the Fair Work Act.
In a lucrative Christmas/New Year period for the Commonwealth's coffers, the Federal Circuit Court has handed down penalties amounting to more than $580,000 in eight separate cases brought by the Fair Work Ombudsman against companies and their directors for breaches of the Fair Work Act.
