Entitlements and standards page 83 of 85

News Corp Australia has offered a real pay cut for several thousand journalists employed at its Australian newspapers and is also seeking to reduce redundancy entitlements for new hires.

The ACTU's bid to remove former senior public servant Tony Cole from this year's annual wage review has failed, after he told the peak body in a consultation hearing this morning that he would not step down because he was not a party to the Audit Commission's recommendation to reduce the minimum wage.

A finance broking house that issued a Brisbane-based employee five payslips in six years and employed him on a commission-based agreement that it believed did not entitle him to base salary, sick pay, annual leave and superannuation entitlements has been ordered to pay him almost $124,000 in penalties.

The Abbott Government will introduce a four-year pause on increases to the superannuation guarantee from July 1, as it seeks to "provide business with certainty" over SG rises.

Tugboat workers in Port Hedland, the outlet for much of Australia's iron ore exports, have endorsed legally protected industrial action in pursuit of improved pay and conditions in a new agreement.

Advocating a much more severe cut to the Coalition's paid parental leave scheme than Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced on Tuesday, the National Audit Commission has recommended the government cap payments at average weekly earnings and plough the resulting savings into child care assistance.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has conceded that savings "won't be vast" from cutting the maximum payment under its paid parental leave scheme to $50,000, while the Greens are pushing for the new regime to be fully-funded by the Coalition's proposed levy on business.

The FWC's President, Justice Iain Ross, in a ruling handed down this morning, has told the Financial Services Council it should take its complaint about the constitution of the default superannuation expert panel to the Federal Court.

The peak body for retail superannuation funds is seeking an urgent Fair Work Commission hearing in a bid to halt the review of default funds in modern awards.

Patrick Stevedores has won the latest round in its continuing battles with the MUA over the automation of its Port Botany terminal, with the Fair Work Commission refusing to interfere with its decisions on workforce modelling, selection and redundancy, after rejecting union claims that it failed to consult.