The first public policy changes to boost workers' power in more than 30 years - under the Albanese Government - have coincided with an increase in nominal and real wages and a rise in workers' share of the fruits of the economy, according to the Centre for Future Work's David Peetz.
A Macquarie University academic says Medibank employees trialling a four-day "100:80:100" working week are performing better and feeling more motivated, while productivity is unchanged, with some indicating they would choose an employer based on whether the option is available.
The NTEU has contributed to a doubling of Indigenous employment in tertiary education over the past two decades, by creating a "unique" union structure and using collective bargaining to establish employment targets and other Indigenous-specific provisions in enterprise agreements, an academic says.
New DEWR data has undercut RBA warnings about the risks of a wage-price spiral, indicating that private sector bargained wage growth remains anchored below 4% a year.
A union involved in more than 20% of the FWC's s448A compulsory conciliation conferences since they started in June says they come with a significant "risk versus reward overlay" that threatens to derail protected action and an "urgent fix" is required.
The CPSU will seek a 20% pay rise over three years plus potential cost of living adjustments and the scrapping of any cap on how many days federal public servants can choose to work from home as part of a service-wide log of claims it will hand to the APSC at the end of the month.
Enterprise agreements filed with the FWC in the fortnight to November 18 paid average annualised wage increases of 3.4%, substantially outpacing the 2.8% rises in DEWR's data for June quarter agreements but well below consumer price inflation of about 7%.
Agreements lodged with the FWC in the fortnight to September 9 delivered annual rises of just 2.4% – the lowest in the short history of the Commission's "real-time" bargained wage data – after education deals effectively paying 1.7% a year to more than 10,000 workers dragged down the average increase.
The Productivity Commission says the workplace tribunal should have a "fast-track process" for early involvement in industrial disputes on the docks, while waterfront employers should have more options for taking their own protected action beyond lockouts.
Private sector rates of pay increased by 2.7% annually in the June quarter, lifting off historic lows but failing to make much of a dent on surging inflation.
