Unions will bargain for artificial intelligence "productivity clauses" to ensure workers are paid a "fair share" of additional wealth created by the technology rather than just generating "super profits" for employers, under a new ACTU policy.
Legislation introduced recently to Queensland's Parliament imposes a positive duty that goes beyond the Respect@Work model, adds new protected attributes to the Anti-Discrimination Act and improves protections for workers assaulted on the job, but the State union peak body is disappointed it continues to permit religious bodies to discriminate in employment.
In a decision an employer argues has "substantial" implications for most businesses, Fire & Rescue NSW has been ordered to pay a health and safety representative for time spent conducting unapproved inspections on his days off.
A freeze has been imposed on big employers applying to self-insure under Comcare while the Albanese Government reviews the compensation scheme's legislative framework, 17 years after a former Labor IR minister imposed what turned into a six-year moratorium on new participants.
Legislation introduced today by Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke provides two "pathways" for the CFMEU's manufacturing division to demerge from the broader union.
Unions NSW says that proposed base pay increases in this week's State budget amount to an "offer that workers and their unions can build on in bargaining" after the scrapping of public sector pay caps.
The NSW Parliament has passed legislation providing an industrial manslaughter offence punishable by jail terms of up to 25 years for individuals and fines for companies of up to $20 million - the largest in Australia - along with new laws extending the State's portable long service leave scheme.
The Albanese Government will introduce laws to allow the CFMEU's manufacturing division to demerge if members vote for it, with the ACTU claiming "Mr Setka's personal grudges" have led to an exit push that "cannot be resolved any other way".
A "broad coalition" of unions will call at this week's ACTU Congress in Adelaide for the peak group to press the Albanese Labor Government to legislate next year to insert 10 days reproductive health leave into the NES, according to key affiliate the Queensland Council of Unions.
