The ACTU is seeking to build opposition to cutting weekend penalty rates through a mass door-knock in marginal seats across Australia in mid-September, while employer associations are pushing crossbench senators to back the Government's bill to re-establish the ABCC.
The employer push for lower penalty rates in the Fair Work Commission includes expert evidence that most weekend workers have no problem or only minor problems with performing their duties on Saturdays and Sundays.
Workers on the Gorgon LNG project will begin voting on Wednesday on whether to take industrial action to push head contractor CB&I to offer shorter roster cycles, at the same time as parliamentary inquiries in WA and Queensland have weighed-up whether new regulations are needed for non-residential workforces.
A FWC full bench has refused an AiG bid to delete provisions for time-off-in-lieu (TOIL) and make-up pay at overtime rates from 10 modern awards, but has proposed a new model TOIL term for all modern awards that don't have one.
The head of the peak small business body has welcomed changes implemented by the Fair Work Commission's president, but is less keen on the tribunal's members, accusing them of failing to "take reality into account" on issues such as penalty rates and minimum hours for junior retail workers.
A health, safety and environment coordinator has failed to convince the Fair Work Commission that exceptions such as sick leave and inclement weather meant the overtime component of his salary was not "guaranteed" so should not disqualify him from unfair dismissal protection.
The Fair Work Commission has asked Coles to make changes to its proposed supermarkets agreement, which covers about 75,000 retail workers, before it can pass the better-off-overall-test.
The AWU's Victorian branch received up to $25,000 a year from a Spotless Group subsidiary under a memorandum of understanding that meant cleaners were not paid penalty rates, the Heydon Royal Commission heard today.
The stevedoring award contains "inflated" penalty rates that are out of proportion to those applying in other industries, a senior FWC member has found in a decision in which he was overruled by a full bench majority.
