The ACTU's push for paid pandemic leave in the broader health sector could extend to almost 1.6 million workers in the wake of FWC proceedings seeking to include the entitlement in a variety of related awards.
A Sydney University think tank has warned that a post-coronavirus reversal of globalisation could reduce labour productivity by up to 12%, when Australia could enjoy a 9% labour efficiency boost by matching world-leading levels of internationalisation.
The NSW Industrial Relations Commission has approved a "splinter award" to protect thousands of local government workers who are unable to perform their usual roles during the COVID-19 pandemic.
An FWU conference convened this afternoon to consider granting paid pandemic leave to vulnerable workers heard that the ACTU has asked Comcare and state-based workcover schemes to declare COVID-19 an occupational disease within the health industry.
The ACTU says that a trading halt on Virgin Australia shares underlines the need for an urgent Federal Government package to support the aviation industry.
The Opposition and legal experts have questioned why the JobKeeper rules appear to leave out the "one in, all in" requirement spelt out in their explanatory statement, and have canvassed what it might mean for employers wanting to negotiate trade-offs.
The ACCC has granted urgent interim authorisation to enable life insurers to co-ordinate to ensure a broad range of frontline healthcare workers are not excluded from coverage due to potential or actual exposure to COVID-19.
As legislation establishing the Morrison Government's $1500 JobKeeper wage subsidy passed through Parliament without amendments last night, aviation unions and the ACTU are on several fronts challenging how Qantas intends to apply it.
The Morrison Government's legislation for the $1500 JobKeeper payments, to about six million workers, which has now passed the lower house, is based on Federal Treasurer John Frydenberg setting rules to govern how the payments are made and administered.
