In a decision upending unions' understanding of what constitutes the base rate of pay under the pilots award and undoing an underpayments claim, the FWC has held that it does not include general wage-related allowances even where they form part of the minimum payment.
In a novel move, unions are seeking to bring forward by 14 weeks the end of the strike-suspending s425 order won by NSW rail employers, arguing that it has failed to achieve its stated purpose of bridging the differences between parties, who they claim have moved further apart during FWC-supervised talks.
The CFMEU construction division's Queensland branch has suffered another setback in its continuing quest to penetrate major civil projects in the State, with the FWC's rejection of a deal brokered with an earthmoving company after finding the union's own industrial officer failed to properly explain it to workers.
Cabin crew employed by Qantas in-house labour hire company Qantas Domestic are in line for base pay rises of up to $20,000 a year, while on-hire workers employed by Maurice Alexander Management and Altara and placed at the airline will win increases of up to 43%, under a settlement of the FAAA's crucial same-job, same-pay claim.
The FWC has put a global services giant's proposed new catering agreement at a Queensland mine on hold after weighing claims of casuals being parachuted in around voting time against hard evidence that it will cut workers' pay by more than $10,000 a year.
A four-member FWC full bench has knocked back arguments by the host employer at a NSW open cut coal mine and its labour hire providers that it would be unfair and unreasonable, or even unconstitutional, to grant same-job, same-pay orders.
Team Jetstar cabin crew have voted up an agreement variation that the TWU says will leave them and fellow labour hire colleagues at Altara about $8000 a year better off thanks to "same-job, same-pay negotiations" and a new protected rate of pay.
The FWC has ruled an employer had a right to refuse to pay sick leave to a worker recently warned about his "particularly excessive" use of the entitlement, while finding it nevertheless "irrelevant" whether cosmetic surgery or a burst appendix explained his absence.
Nine in 10 women responding to a major CPSU survey say it is "very important" to be able to work from home and those who do are more likely to be satisfied with their work-life balance, while the ACTU says Coalition plans to force public servants back to the office if it wins government will hurt productivity and women's job opportunities.
