ACTU secretary Sally McManus will tonight use a "robo-call" to about 500,000 lower and middle-income households to explain the union movement's aims heading into the first of the Morrison Government's IR change discussions tomorrow.
The ASU says it will object to extending a coronavirus-driven variation to the clerks' award because it has been "superseded" by JobKeeper and Fair Work Act changes, dismissing the employer bid as an attack on the award system.
The FWC has found it reasonable to issue JobKeeper-enabling directions for some casuals to perform more than their pre-COVID-19 hours, after Prosegur required armoured vehicle operators to work a minimum of 25 hours a week.
The MUA has vowed to resist what it claims are "common" efforts by stevedoring companies to use the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to slash wages and conditions on the waterfront.
In a case of curious timing, the FWC has endorsed a council's mid-pandemic scrapping of an enduring work-from-home arrangement on the basis it fell outside the purview of a flexible work agreement clause.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus has warned against an excessive concentration of taxpayer support on blue-collar jobs in response to what is primarily a "pink recession" caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The FWC has let a construction company bin a 5% pay rise that came into effect in February plus next year's increase, despite CFMMEU evidence that some workers felt pressured to support the COVID-19 variation in a ballot that identified their vote.
A pandemic-affected employer has succeeded in having redundancy payments to four workers slashed by almost 70%, the FWC finding its perilous cash position and obligation to remaining employees outweighed the impact on the quartet.
