Ten days paid family and domestic violence leave is now a NES entitlement, after the House of Representatives this morning accepted the Senate's legislative amendments.
The Albanese Government's Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill, introduced today, ushers in a new multi-employer bargaining regime, but with safeguards that will bar participation by unions with a record of flouting workplace laws, limit industrial action to those in a "supported bargaining stream" and exclude the commercial construction sector.
The Albanese Government's first major tranche of IR legislation beefs-up workers' rights to secure flexible working arrangements and empowers the FWC to arbitrate if conciliation of a refused request fails.
A worker who claims FWC President Iain Ross admitted to having a problem with commissioners' "colonial attitude" has lost his Federal Court bid to sue the tribunal for racial discrimination.
The Albanese Government, in its first Budget, has allocated almost $70 million over four years for the FWO to take over the ABCC's regulatory role after its abolition, while delivering $20 million over the same period for the FWC to handle gender equity pay cases.
The FWC has rejected an employer's bid to stop planned strikes at a $1 billion lithium plant, after finding that its interpretation of notification requirements would effectively shave a day off the protected period.
A FWC full bench has taken a union and employer to task for failing to notify it to resume hearing the former's challenge to a contentious hospitality deal under which employees can work "voluntary" additional hours without penalties.
The MBA says it is pressing NSW's Perrottet Government for a procurement policy to protect builders against the ETU's pursuit of a "disastrous" deal with major contractors that it describes as the "spear point" of multi-employer pattern bargaining.
Incoming CFMMEU construction and general division national secretary Zachary (Zach) Smith will take over from the long-serving Dave Noonan in April, after 15 years with the union and serving as leader and assistant leader of the ACT branch for the past three years.
