In what might present another opportunity for the Albanese Government to deliver on its promise to rebalance the FWC, the Productivity Commission says it should empower the tribunal to conciliate and arbitrate gig workers' termination and payment disputes.
The Productivity Commission says a review of the Albanese Government's new multi-employer bargaining measures should consider amending the Competition and Consumer Act so the ACCC can play a role.
The Productivity Commission has today recommended the Albanese Government strip back the modern awards objective to seven points and establish an independent dispute resolution mechanism within the FWC for platform workers.
The Albanese Government is not attracted to "scorched earth" IR policies to address Australia's productivity challenges, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said today, ahead of tomorrow's tabling of the final report of the Productivity Commission's productivity inquiry.
In findings unlikely to get a good reception in Canberra, the Productivity Commission has come down firmly against the federal government adopting a policy of preferring direct employment in the aged care sector.
The Productivity Commission has warned against "shoehorning" gig economy platform work into other employment categories, arguing it could jeopardise their benefits for consumers and workers.
The MUA claims the competition regulator has failed to show a causal link between waterfront productivity and the content of enterprise agreements negotiated between the union and major stevedores.
The NFF says the Federal Government should use its existing powers to routinely and rapidly refer all potential waterfront disputes to arbitration so that importers and exporters are no longer "held to ransom as a bargaining chip" between maritime workers and infrastructure owners.
A Productivity Commission inquiry will explore whether to permit "informal carers" to take extended unpaid leave to support elderly friends and relatives, while submissions are due in April on a study of what might happen if priority is given to direct employment of aged care workers.
