The author of a book tracing 150 years of campaigning for a shorter Australian working week says it offers crucial lessons for current efforts to win a four-day work week, cut unpaid overtime, and properly account for domestic labour, while AMWU national secretary Steve Murphy considers it part of a "just transition".
The implications of the Federal Court's retail underpayments decision are only starting to be understood, with employment law academic Andrew Stewart warning of the significent consequences of its redefinition of employer record-keeping obligations and findings on proving workers' agreement to vary award conditions.
In its first use of the new power to unilaterally amend the terms of substandard proposed agreements, the FWC has signalled it will rewrite provisions in three Aldi enterprise deals that leave storepersons worse off, to enable their approval.
Workers at Woodside's Pluto 2 LNG expansion in the Pilbara have overwhelmingly voted down head contractor Bechtel's proposed agreement, while Rio Tinto's Paraburdoo iron ore workers are set to receive a pay rise, announced shortly after unions kicked-off their majority support campaign.
With the FWC seeking feedback by early next month on whether to hold off on reviewing its insertion of right to disconnect terms into awards, a leading employment and IR barrister and former critic of the legislation says the lack of test cases is "remarkable".
A model working from home clause in a key award should avoid contributing to remote workers working "long and unsociable hours", address employer provision of equipment and apply to all employees, according to a Centre for Future Work report.
Burger chain Grill'd is making its second attempt to win approval of a national agreement, while the SDA's application to terminate the nominally expired deal depriving workers of award entitlements remains unresolved.
The FWC has ordered a health and safety representative to stop organising unprotected strikes for workers maintaining Sydney's trains, after finding no evidence that they faced immediate dangers from an increase in night shifts.
A law firm that forced a solicitor to work "self-evidently excessive" hours and "deprived her of any form of personal autonomy or agency without any rational justification" has been ordered to pay her $50,000 in fines and interest.
In a significant breakthrough for a NTEU excessive workloads case, a FWC full bench has found a university could have breached its agreement by allocating tasks to academics they could not reasonably complete within full-time hours, but it is questioning what, if any, relief would be available.
