Victoria's Andrews Labor Government is calling for an increase of at least the CPI - currently 3.5% - to the federal minimum wage and all modern award rates on the basis that consumer price inflation movements mean anything less would be a pay cut.
Attorney General and IR Minister Michaelia Cash has today appointed a senior Sydney IR and employment silk as a Federal Court judge, while she has refused to confirm whether she intends to make any FWC appointments ahead of the Government going into caretaker mode.
A large employer organisation has called for the FWC to award minimum pay rises of 2.5% to 3% to help maintain living standards amid rising inflation, albeit with pay rises delayed for industries hardest hit by the pandemic.
Parliamentarians leading tributes to former Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching have recalled her pride in and lessons learned from her brief time in the scandal-plagued Health Services Union, with a Coalition minister acknowledging the period had "hardened" her for politics.
In a case applying the High Court's new guidelines on contractors, a judge has rejected a worker's bid for leave, super and redundancy payments after finding he was not an employee despite averaging 38 hours a week over eight years for a solitary employer.
The ACTU will pursue a 5% increase across all award rates in this year's minimum wage review, arguing it is needed to compensate workers for cost of living pressures.
In a decision closely examining the FWC's powers to make scope orders, a full bench majority has found that an employer's failure to spell out classifications for a proposed agreement rendered the process "defective".
The FWC has ordered Qantas to reinstate a trainer accused of inappropriately staring at a female employee's breasts during a "distinguishably lewd" safety demonstration, while taking aim at a "ludicrous" video it used to demonstrate s-xual harassment.
With a federal election likely in May, IR Minister Michaelia Cash has thumbed her nose at Labor's plan to axe the Registered Organisations Commission, giving Mark Bielecki another two years as its leader.
