Two days after being labelled the Turnbull Government's "beloved political attack dog" upon receiving an $8.1 million fillip in the Budget, the Registered Organisations Commission has confirmed two inquiries into financial reporting irregularities by employer bodies.
So-called 'comic' employment contracts replacing dense legalese with images have been coolly received by both the peak employer and employee bodies, each expressing a preference for the power of words when it comes to interpretation and enforcement.
The IEU is recommending NSW and ACT Catholic school teachers and support workers vote "yes" to a revised deal breaking an extended deadlock over guaranteed access to FWC arbitration, while employers have committed to making a second back-payment to the start of the year.
The union at the centre of AFP raids conducted on behalf of the Registered Organisations Commission has today warned business leaders that they risk creating a more disruptive and "brutal" IR future for Australia if they continue to employ "hyper-aggressive" strategies aimed at eviscerating organised labour.
The Federal Labor Opposition has confirmed it is at odds with key industry bodies in accepting the link between truck drivers' pay and conditions and road safety, but stopped short of committing to re-establishing the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT).
The Retail and Fast Food Workers Union says it will not be pressured into applying for registration until it is ready, as the Australian Industry Group seeks to constrain its challenge to a proposed relaxation of part-time provisions in the four-yearly review of the Fast Food Industry Award.
The ACTU will today release economic modelling to bolster its argument that a $50-a-week increase in the minimum wage would be a job creator rather than a job destroyer, as claimed by employer groups.
The CFMMEU has today challenged employer groups' standing to appeal the approval of its merger, arguing they are not sufficiently affected as they will be dealing with the same officials doing the same work to the same standards, only wearing different t-shirts.
The head of the newly-merged CFMMEU, Michael O'Connor, says the mega-union will work "slowly and carefully" through the early days of creating the new organisation.
Employer groups have failed in their bid to delay the March 27 CFMEU-MUA-TCFU amalgamation, but have taken solace from a senior FWC member's observation that their April 9 appeal to an FWC full bench "surmounts the fairly low bar of being arguable".
