Resources minister says project agreements worth considering; Workers have "right to know" how transition from fossil fuels will be managed, says Burrow; Public and private sector IT professionals' pay rises "diverging"; and Queensland Parliament rejects LNP bid to reverse entry rules.
Changes to greenfields agreements bargaining, protected action ballots and unpaid parental leave have come into effect today, after the Federal Government's Fair Work Amendment Bill received Royal Assent yesterday.
The Fair Work Amendment Bill cleared its final hurdle this evening when the Government-controlled House of Representatives accepted changes made by Senate crossbenchers.
A group of Senate crossbenchers is set to agree on limited changes to the Fair Work Act, including providing a mechanism for breaking bargaining deadlocks on greenfields agreements.
Workers on the Gorgon LNG project will begin voting on Wednesday on whether to take industrial action to push head contractor CB&I to offer shorter roster cycles, at the same time as parliamentary inquiries in WA and Queensland have weighed-up whether new regulations are needed for non-residential workforces.
The Australian Shipowners Association has told the Productivity Commission that it is important to understand that the starting point for the bargaining changes it is seeking is the "disproportionate industrial power" wielded by the maritime unions.
The peak body for the hydrocarbons sector is pushing to extend to an unprecedented six years the terms of agreements made for the construction phase of major projects.
BHP Billiton has nominated the Coalition's right of entry and greenfields amendments, stalled in the Senate, as its first priorities for IR change, telling the Productivity Commission it also wants restrictions on agreement content, faster relief from industrial action and a wound-back adverse action regime.
The Department of Employment has crunched the numbers on Australia's 122 modern awards, finding that just half provide for weekend penalty loadings, and 26 rule them out.
