Executive pay in Australia has been driven by "leap-frogging" - an inflationary form of comparative wage justice that ordinary employees had to abandon as "old hat and dangerous" in the enterprise bargaining era, according to Griffith University's Professor David Peetz. He also says the Fair Work Act's legal minimum is a "useful benchmark" when setting executives' termination payouts.
Just 5% (or less than 600,000) of Australia's 10.65 million workers have been placed in jobs by recruitment or labour hire companies, according to new ABS data that also reveals there are almost a million independent contractors.
There is no evidence to support the widely-held belief that long working weeks are associated with increased likelihood of marital breakdown, according to the latest release from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey.
In a case that has widespread significance, the Federal Court has, for the first time, awarded a sacked employee compensation - of $274,288 - on the basis that his employer breached the grievance procedure in his AWA.
A child care centre manager who was told she would have to work in a more junior position after returning from maternity leave was effectively dismissed, the Federal Magistrates Court has found.
"Labour persuaders", "direct dealing" and "unfair labour practices" – this is the language of bargaining in the US, and it could be coming to a workplace near you.
The SDA is in the final stages of negotiating its first collective agreement with Spotlight, formerly a high-profile user of Work Choices AWAs, the union’s national secretary Joe de Bruyn has told ACTU Congress.
Wages in private sector federal enterprise agreements struck in the first quarter of 2009 defied the economic environment, growing at a strong 4.6%, according to the DEEWR, while ABS data released today showed Australia had escaped a technical recession.
ACTU president Sharan Burrow today fleshed out unions’ plans to improve income security for Australian workers displaced as a result of the Global Financial Crisis, saying it is time to “reinvent” the social insurance base.
