ACTU President Sharan Burrow is calling for Labor to expand employees' right to request flexible work and to extend its proposed multi-employer bargaining system for low-paid employees. She is also urging a new approach to gender pay equity, noting that "inequity exists at all levels" and citing executive HR managers, where the gender gap is "a massive 43 per cent".
Some 8,000 Brisbane City Council workers will receive a 4.5% increase, under a one-year extension to the organisation's 2005-08 agreement with unions. The deal also changes procedures for dealing with employees who have recurrent sick leave absences.
Government subsidies may be contributing to escalating childcare costs, despite them having only a weak impact on increasing women's participation in the workforce, according to analysis by the Centre for Independent Studies.
Inflation result to heighten wage-price spiral fears; Give workers carbon permits, says AWU; AMWU says polling shows members want Government investment in low carbon technologies; and Work Choices advisor Briggs wins Liberal preselection.
Telstra says a confidential document released by the ACTU detailing the company's strategy for last year's roll-out of 15,000 AWAs is "nothing new" and has already been investigated by the Workplace Ombudsman.
Wages growth to be at least 4.4%, jobs to keep growing, says Access Economics; Reserve Bank plays down risk of wages/inflation spiral; WO clears Telstra of AWA duress, but finds case against one manager; and Queensland urges older workers to put off retirement.
Qantas and its licenced aircraft maintenance engineers reached in-principle agreement last night, bringing to an end the industrial action that has seriously disrupted flight schedules, while the airline has today announced it will cut about 1,500 jobs in response to rising fuel prices.
Qantas and long-haul pilots reach accord; Gillard on Telstra bargaining; Spicer Axle workers' pay rises tied to CPI; and 4% pay rise for paint workers.
The MEAA will seek authorisation from members at Fairfax Media to initiate a bargaining period, as it prepares for possible industrial action after reaching a bargaining stalemate over the company's plan to require about 300 senior journalists and photographers to individually bargain for their pay.
Some 500 journalists employed by about 200 country newspapers across Australia will be entitled to six weeks paid maternity leave, under an agreement variation and extension approved by the AIRC yesterday. Media unions are also seeking increases in paid parental leave in bargaining with the Special Broadcasting Service.
