Victoria's Andrews Labor Government is calling for an increase of at least the CPI - currently 3.5% - to the federal minimum wage and all modern award rates on the basis that consumer price inflation movements mean anything less would be a pay cut.
Attorney General and IR Minister Michaelia Cash has today appointed a senior Sydney IR and employment silk as a Federal Court judge, while she has refused to confirm whether she intends to make any FWC appointments ahead of the Government going into caretaker mode.
A large employer organisation has called for the FWC to award minimum pay rises of 2.5% to 3% to help maintain living standards amid rising inflation, albeit with pay rises delayed for industries hardest hit by the pandemic.
Parliamentarians leading tributes to former Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching have recalled her pride in and lessons learned from her brief time in the scandal-plagued Health Services Union, with a Coalition minister acknowledging the period had "hardened" her for politics.
In a case applying the High Court's new guidelines on contractors, a judge has rejected a worker's bid for leave, super and redundancy payments after finding he was not an employee despite averaging 38 hours a week over eight years for a solitary employer.
The ACTU will pursue a 5% increase across all award rates in this year's minimum wage review, arguing it is needed to compensate workers for cost of living pressures.
New Zealand's Ardern Labour Government has introduced legislation to enable occupational and industry-wide bargaining where unions can demonstrate worker support, or it passes a public interest test.
High Court employees accusing judges of inappropriate conduct can request formal external investigations, avoid further contact and if necessary secure an alternative position of equivalent status under a new policy on justices' workplace conduct.
Women are half as likely as men to engage in digital platform work and earn between 10% and 37% less when they do so, according to a Victorian Government-commissioned report that will inform State-based standards for the gig economy.
