In a significant decision on the meaning of "full rate of pay" under same-job, same-pay laws and the FWC's powers to arbitrate related disputes, a Commission full bench has found that a big mining company must count service prior to SJSP orders when determining on-hire workers' classifications.
Mining unions have asked Fortescue to begin bargaining for replacement deals for two barebones non-union agreements covering iron ore workers at four Pilbara sites.
The FWC has refused to stay same-job, same-pay orders pending an appeal in June, because it would deny new workers increased pay, after poultry processing company Bartter switched labour-hire providers shortly after the tribunal made orders.
Qantas long-haul pilots have rejected a proposed deal that would have lifted their pay by about 25% over four years, after their unions split on whether to support the offer.
The NSW IRC's significant increases ordered today will result in midwives and registered and enrolled nurses at the top of the pay scale becoming the best paid in Australia.
A NSW IRC full bench will on Thursday decide public sector nurses' special case bid for a 35% pay rise, while the state union's employees will get a 5% increase and a one-off "cost of living allowance" under a proposed agreement variation.
The first lawful industrial action in more than 30 years in the Pilbara will begin next week, with ETU members on a crucial BHP power network launching work bans.
The High Court has today refused BHP's bid to overturn a full Federal Court ruling that upheld same-job, same-pay orders against its OS in-house labour hire subsidiaries.
The scope of "same-job, same-pay" orders should replicate the host deal's, according to an employment and IR barrister who is urging the Albanese Government to plug a "leaking bucket", following a full court finding that the FWC should have confined its orders to a more limited cohort of on-hire workers at a Hunter Valley coal mine.
BHP says it has contingency plans in place to ensure continuity of power supply to its Pilbara mines and ports, as 60 workers who operate its remote electricity grid threaten what it says is its WA iron ore operation's first protected action this century.
