Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke says that "conversations are happening" on extending the sitting of the Senate beyond December 1 as he tries to win support from key crossbench senators for the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill.
A FWC full bench will tomorrow consider whether to terminate or suspend tugboat operator Svitzer's planned indefinite national lockout on Friday, after the company told Vice President Adam Hatcher it is not prepared to delay it and does not believe conciliation will help.
A senior FWC member has declined to recuse himself from hearing a primary school teacher's unfair dismissal case after rejecting the suggestion that the Education Department's lawyer, formerly an intern at a regulatory body he briefly headed up, had been chosen "to achieve the evil purpose of influencing" his deliberations.
In a significant ruling on the wording of strike ballots, a FWC full bench has found that the Commission should not dictate which questions can be posed or how they are framed.
Woolworths has called for the Albanese Government to initiate an urgent "proactive review" of the retail award, arguing it would produce better outcomes for their predominantly female workforce than a shift to multi-employer bargaining.
The FWC has upheld Victoria Police's rejection of a transit officer's flexibility request because it would exacerbate already "bleak" safety issues arising from understaffing in Melbourne's most crime-affected region.
Towage company Svitzer is set to lock out its harbour tugboat workforce, claiming it has been forced into it by continuing disruptive protected action by three maritime unions.
Adelaide University Professor of Law Andrew Stewart has told a Senate hearing that the Albanese Government should withdraw and rework a contentious aspect of its Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill, suggesting there is a "problem with the legislation" if as a technical expert he is unable to answer a simple question about coverage in the single interest bargaining provisions.
A large employer has been fined almost $100,000 after a court rejected its "bare apology" for requiring a newly-arrived migrant to work 12 extra hours a week for more than three years.
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has warned that the prescriptive amendments sought by business and employer groups to the Secure Jobs Bill's multi-employer stream could render it as "ineffective and unusable" as the 13-year old Act's low paid bargaining stream, which hasn't been used since 2014 because parties "gave up on it".
