The Albanese Government should force companies to share productivity gains with employees via higher pay rises, extra leave or shorter hours, according to research using the retail sector to challenge "conventional wisdom" that productivity growth flows through to workers.
Assistant productivity minister Andrew Leigh says Australians have used about a quarter of the post-1980 productivity dividend to "work less", as he revisited a 1930 John Maynard Keynes prediction that people in 2030 "would inherit a world shaped by rising productivity and the promise of abundance".
Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth's plan to legislate "as soon as possible" to protect award-enshrined penalty rates has prompted the FWC to seek submissions on whether to shelve a major employer bid to insert a conditions buy-out clause in the retail award for workers on as little as $53,680 a year.
The Albanese Government has today appointed four new FWC members with union or employee-friendly backgrounds, while indicating its "rebalancing" of the tribunal hasn't yet been achieved.
Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt has weighed into a crucial full bench same-job, same-pay test case targeting BHP's in-house labour suppliers, ahead of a hearing that starts Monday, contradicting claims the carve-out for service contractors captures any work that is "more than the mere supply of labour".
Gig platforms must use "human representatives" rather than AI when assessing a regulated worker's response to threatened deactivation, under a much-anticipated new code published by the Albanese Government last week.
Former federal Workplace Relations Minister Chris Evans has been appointed Australia's first Anti-Slavery Commissioner, responsible for improving victim support and helping employers address supply-chain risks such as forced labour and debt bondage.
More than 90% of federal public sector employees have not been trained in the use of artificial intelligence despite 41% knowing that it is already being used in their department or agency, a survey has found.
Newly-installed CFMEU construction division administrator Mark Irving KC has told members that "militancy in accordance with the [Fair Work] Act" is not unlawful and that the union will not make political donations or take "positions" at ALP conferences while he is in charge.
