The ACTU is calling for a 4.5% increase to the minimum wage, well above the current inflation rate of 2.4%, to lift the annual full-time rate by $2,143 to $49,770, while Victoria's Allan Government is making the same pitch as its federal Labor counterpart, calling for a real increase in the minimum wage.
The FWO has established a panel of aged care industry employers and unions to oversee what it calls a "collective approach" to policing the sector as it continues a crackdown on facilities, home care providers and gig platforms that underpaid workers at least $40 million last financial year.
Peak employer body ACCI has warned against the FWC handing down an "above inflation" rise in its upcoming Annual Wage Review, while at the same time arguing for "no more than 2.5%" when headline annual inflation currently stands at 2.4%.
The FWC has found a supervisor's "grossly inappropriate" treatment of young subordinates amounted to a significant breach of his obligations and warranted his summary dismissal.
In a significant judgment on the level of proof required to establish an unlawful boycott, a High Court majority has upheld a finding that the CFMEU's construction and general division did not collude with major building company J Hutchinson to freeze out a non-union waterproofing subcontractor.
BHP is trying to "buy" support from its OS in-house labour hire workforce for a new production agreement by offering a $10,000 sign-on bonus, according to the Mining and Energy Union, after a parallel agreement for its maintenance cohort got across the line after it put forward the same sweetener.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a worker who covertly recorded and shared conversations with colleagues and sent them offensive late-night emails while pursuing old grievances, a tribunal member observing that he "needed to be stopped".
Ahead of the May 3 poll, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is supporting a real pay increase in this year's minimum wage case, going further than his 2022 election call for the FWC to ensure workers' pay not "go backwards".
CFMEU administrators who are blocking a FWO attempt to investigate whether the union boycotted an AWU-aligned Indigenous building company must hand over documents after a judge accused them of a "hyper-critical dissection" of a contested notice to produce.
A decorated scientist whose job offer was withdrawn after becoming the subject of a workplace investigation has failed to persuade the FWC that despite the absence of a signed contract, an all-staff announcement and time spent at meetings related to the role established an employment relationship.
