A leading international IR academic has called for optimism and political courage to forge a new post-pandemic social contract designed to build more productive and resilient economies while rebuilding worker trust and making workplaces more inclusive.
A majority of workers at the revamped Virgin Australia have agreed to a pay freeze for up to two years under new enterprise agreements negotiated between aviation unions and the airline's management.
Labour costs have now dropped by more than 9% in the past year, while working hours have started to recover, according to ABS statistics released this morning that measure more than six months of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
After the FWC reinstated one of two truck driver TWU delegates involved in a punch-up, it has now upheld Toll's dismissal of the second driver because he lied during its investigation – a reason not relied on by the employer.
Working from home is here to stay and will be "more effective for all" if it is supported by formal policies, hours are "relatively fixed hours" and it is voluntary, according to one of two university studies commissioned by the FWC as it considers inserting a WFH clause in the clerks award.
The FWC has dismissed an employer's application to reduce a redundancy payment to nil, finding redeployment options unacceptable because of excessive travel time and reduced income.
In a momentous ruling on unions' liability for officials' breaches, a full Federal Court has upheld a finding that the CFMMEU was "knowingly concerned" in organisers' refusal to show permits when entering a site to discuss safety issues.
IR Minister Christian Porter has confirmed he will not intervene in an ASX-listed company's bid to restructure in a way that relies on the Fair Entitlements Guarantee scheme to pay redundancy entitlements, saying many more will lose jobs without it.
The High Court will next month hear two special leave applications challenging findings that, in considering ordinary turnover of labour, employees' reasonable expectation of continuing work helps determine their entitlement to redundancy pay.
The Federal Court has doused the construction watchdog's pursuit of one of the CFMMEU's national leaders for allegedly organising an illegal strike, finding construction workers were entitled to pass more than two showery days in a "smoko shed" under the award's inclement weather provisions.
