A Tasmanian wood mill operator that stood down its workforce after this year's bushfires has established that even though its agreement requires workers to be paid for time lost due to such natural events, it does not have to pay them if it is because of bushfire-damaged machinery.
Aviation unions are threatening to run an adverse action case against Qantas for making the payment of a $2000 cash bonus conditional on securing new post-wage-freeze enterprise agreements.
Unregistered retail union RAFFWU has today questioned Woolworths' decision to display a bargaining notice on physical noticeboards rather than its electronic or "point of sale" systems, during an FWC hearing into its bid to quash the approval of a new deal and clear the way for a $1 billion backpay claim.
RAFFWU is challenging the approval of a Kmart deal that won overwhelming endorsement from workers, claiming a refusal to provide an opt-out of the retail industry superannuation fund and 1c above-award pay rates will mean it fails the better off overall test.
The Victorian Labor government has flagged it will aim for modest annual pay rises of 2%, setting the scene for an arm-wrestle with public sector unions in bargaining over a series of major enterprise agreements.
In a decision further clarifying the "minor procedural or technical errors" that can be overlooked in approving agreements, the FWC has rejected a deal capturing employees not contemplated at the time bargaining notices were issued, despite their subsequent involvement in voting it up.
Workers at BlueScope Steel's Port Kembla operations have backed a beefed-up three-year agreement offer that lifts pay by 11% and introduces a profit-share scheme.
A full Federal Court has upheld a finding that retailer Aldi issued invalid bargaining notices because it failed to strictly follow the mandatory content requirements when it replaced "employer" with "leader".
A university's decision to slash casual tutors' rates for online student support almost four years into an agreement has been endorsed by the FWC, despite the member observing that the deal's definition of tutorial harked back to his long-gone days at law school.
A senior FWC member has flagged a potential "revolution" in the way the tribunal assesses agreements should a full bench review being sought by IR Minister Kelly O'Dwyer find weight must be given to indirect as well as direct discriminatory terms.
