Victoria's Andrews Government has appointed former ACTU president Sharan Burrow and ex-FWC president Iain Ross to key roles on a tripartite taskforce to improve safety and support for apprentices.
The FWC has thrown out a bid by the AMWU to enter the BHP OS training facility near Mackay to hold discussions with about 150 maintenance trainees, finding the union's coverage rule for fitters and engineering trades doesn't extend to the "caterpillar" trainees until they become maintenance associate "butterflies".
The FWC has upbraided construction company Hansen Yuncken for its "callous" and unfair sacking of a "naïve" trainee who nonetheless provided it with a valid reason by insisting on indefinite unpaid leave to avoid lengthy public transport commutes during COVID-19.
The FWC has rejected an employer's claim it did not summarily dismiss an apprentice by text, describing a later email in which the teenager was told "we are holding your position open" as a "retroactive" attempt to characterise the worker as having quit.
The FWC has found that a firefighter's dishonesty in concealing a professional ban arising from indecent assaults was sufficient reason for his dismissal, even after rejecting the employer's own reasons as invalid.
The ramifications of recent legislative changes requiring employers to disprove employees' records of hours worked in wage claim cases have been spelt out in a court decision imposing penalties of more than $120,000 on a company and its director for underpaying an apprentice.
The ETU has declared a major payday for more than 4000 Queensland apprentices it claims are owed $70 million in underpayments after a full Federal Court today held that an old State award that continued to dictate their pay was superseded three years ago.
Queensland employers facing millions of dollars in backpay claims are calling on the Federal Court to quash an FWC full bench decision that apprentices' pay should be measured against the more generous federal award rather than the state award when conducting the BOOT.
Queensland employers are urging the State and Federal governments to take responsibility for millions of dollars in backpay claims that could be pursued by apprentices after an FWC full bench held that an old State award that continued to dictate their pay was superseded three years ago.