A major mining company has voiced "serious concerns" at being targeted by a multi-employer bargaining test case involving several competitors, despite the Albanese Government's assurances that mine employers would not be significantly affected by the legislation.
A lawyer for early childhood education employers involved in the sector's supported bargaining test case says that for future applications where participants are not as aligned, he suspects it will be a slow, challenging and "very cumbersome process", while a union leader in the case says the FWC is helping to bring the parties together.
The Australian Education Union told the FWC this afternoon that its revised application for a multi-employer bargaining authorisation for 12 TAFE institutes in Victoria might assuage employer concerns.
A FWC full bench has this afternoon issued the first supported bargaining authorisation under the Secure Jobs provisions, opening the way for the UWU, AEU and IEU to negotiate a deal on behalf of 12,000 employees with 64 early childhood education and care employers.
The Fair Work Act's continuing focus on single-enterprise bargaining, along with weak underpinning awards and supported bargaining's restriction to multi-employer rather than sector-wide bargaining, will limit the new stream's capacity to achieve "decent wages" for low-paid female employees, according to leading IR academics.
The IEU's WA branch has hit back at an employer group's submissions in its Catholic schools single interest multi-employer test case, warning against elevating the status of "irrelevant" views and declaring its construction of the legislation could create a "peculiar result".
ACCI has secured more time for interveners to make their views known on single interest multi-employer bargaining provisions that the IEU's WA branch is testing in a bid to compel negotiations on behalf of general and education support workers in Catholic schools.
The Australian Industry Group has weighed into the early childhood education and care sector supported bargaining test case to tell the FWC it is not its job to "rubber stamp" applications even if all parties desire it and to warn of significant implications for those who might be "selectively excluded" but risk being roped in later.
A major employer alliance supporting a union bid for supported multi-bargaining in the early childhood education and care sector says the FWC needs to bring the Albanese Government to the table as insufficient funding is hampering their ability to boost pay.
The IEU's WA branch says it has re-lodged an application for a single interest multi-employer bargaining authorisation to compel Catholic school employers to negotiate on behalf of thousands of general and education support workers.
