The NSW Minns Labor Government is closer to winning passage of controversial Workers Compensation amendments designed to rein in claims for psychological injuries, along with a bill making it easier for unions to inspect employers' digital work systems.
Microsoft says an Australian-first framework agreement with the ACTU sets a new standard for "responsible AI diffusion" across workplaces, protecting those working on AI and affected by it, while prioritising training for unions and employees.
In an "industry-first", a newly-approved union agreement covering editorial employees at news publications including Crikey and The Mandarin explicitly prohibits AI from replacing human employees and requires all output to have human oversight.
As the Albanese Government revealed plans for an AI Safety Institute to harness productivity gains and combat "malign uses" of the new technology, a "confronting" report from the FSU champions the need for a digital "just transition" amid concerns about job security and surveillance in the finance sector.
The NSW Minns Labor Government has introduced what the Business Council claims is the "most interventionist AI and digital regulation" for employers in the country, while separately reviving a bid to lift the workers' compensation total impairment threshold for psychological injuries.
Fast-growing HR and recruitment platform Employment Hero made a senior technical writer redundant after it replaced the content he produced for its online "help centre" with "automated workflows and AI", but the FWC has declined to extend time to allow him to pursue his unfair dismissal claim.
If unions lead the way, AI provides a "once-in-a-generation chance" to rebuild the middle class and restore dignity to workers that has been eroded by "decades of rising inequality and casualisation", Labor frontbencher Andrew Leigh has told an ACTU AI symposium.
The MUA says it has secured a new deal at Hutchison Ports that "slams the door on automation", while members at the Port of Melbourne's "robo-terminal" are in line for big pay rises after endorsing a VICT agreement that boosts consultation over AI.
The ACTU will use next month's economic reform roundtable to demand the Albanese Government compel employers to reach AI "implementation agreements" with workers that guarantee job security and any necessary retraining before they can introduce the technology.
With employers said to be using artificial intelligence for everything from recruitment and rostering to forecasting industrial action, an employment lawyer is urging IR practitioners to consider the legal, ethical and practical issues.
