FWC President Iain Ross will next week convene a private conference of employers groups, unions and federal and NSW governments to canvass possible temporary changes to awards in response to the COVID-19 lockdown in Greater Sydney, after a request today from the ACTU.
The ACTU has today asked FWC president Iain Ross to initiate a process for making short-term changes to awards in response to the "developing" COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney.
Employer groups have welcomed talks with the Morrison Government on the part they can play in advancing the vaccine rollout once Pfizer supplies improve, including workplace vaccinations, but they are still awaiting assurances on indemnity and liability.
Retail employers and their part-time employees will be able to agree to extra hours by text message or email, under changes to the industry award that followed a request from the IR minister.
The Berejiklian Coalition Government will relax its COVID-19 public sector wage freeze from July 1, moving back to the former 2.5%-a-year cap, and introduce paid leave for workers who suffer a stillbirth or miscarriage.
The FWC has expressed provisional views ahead of a hearing on Thursday that casual definitions and conversion clauses in some awards clash with the Fair Work Act and National Employment Standards, and that it would be inappropriate to itemise loadings.
Woolworths has confirmed it will pay the 2.5% minimum wage increase to employees from the first week of next month, avoiding a repeat of the dispute it had last year with retail unions over the timing of pay rises to workers in its supermarkets and Big W stores.
The FWC has approved a 2.5% increase in all award rates in its minimum wage ruling handed down this afternoon and has again delayed rises for sectors most affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
The FWC's review of awards in sectors hammered by the pandemic is starting to introduce changes stymied by the withdrawal of much of the IR Omnibus Bill, according to former Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James.
Requests by two HR consultancies to extend coronavirus-driven award variations providing more flexibility to work from home have prompted the FWC to expand the window for submissions on its provisional view that the measures should be wound up.
