The FWC has asked the Coalition to consider backdating its legislation to give the tribunal discretion to correct minor errors in bargaining notices, after a new regulation designed to reduce defects appears to have made things worse.
A Senate inquiry's largely bipartisan support for the Turnbull Government's Protecting Vulnerable Workers Bill is a "striking indication" of how far the debate on the issue has advanced, according to Adelaide University Professor of Law, Andrew Stewart.
The new standalone regulator for registered organisations will start operating on Monday, May 1, with its new powers taking effect by the following day.
Hardline employer-clientele law firm Seyfarth Shaw developed an aggressive bargaining strategy for Victoria's Country Fire Authority that aimed to replace a culture of UFU "veto and control" with "consultation and influence", documents published by the Senate reveal.
As the FWC calls for submissions on an employer bid to ditch the term "penalty rates" and replace it with "additional remuneration", a senior union-clientele lawyer is warning of a "slippery slope" if recognition of a need to compensate those working unsociable hours is removed.
The FWC has approved an agreement for 2,000 staffers for members of Federal Parliament, despite union claims it was not genuinely agreed because "voting irregularities" caused by the electronic voting system disenfranchised substantial numbers of workers.
The CPSU is ramping-up its campaign to break a bargaining deadlock at the Department of Human Services, with rolling stoppages set to start next week, but the department anticipates the effect of the union's action will be "minimal".
The timetable for having the Registered Organisations Commission up and running appears to have slipped, with a new target adopted for it to be in place by the end of June.
