The FWC has tentatively decided, of its own motion, to reinstate a COVID-19 flexibility schedule to the graphic arts award, after it received an incompetent application from an industry representative body.
An FWC full bench has approved a Restaurant and Catering Industrial proposal to streamline restaurant award classifications, exempt higher-paid workers from key award conditions for more pay and introduce all-in allowances, but has provided for its fairness and efficiency to be reviewed after nine months.
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.
