The AiG and unions are at odds over time in lieu and make-up pay provisions in modern awards, with the employer group critical of an AMWU push to calculate TOIL at overtime rates and the ACTU in turn arguing the AiG's proposal would reduce existing entitlements.
The NSW Business Chamber has formally applied for the Fair Work Commission to introduce new rules in modern awards covering more than 500,000 micro businesses that employ fewer than five workers.
The former Labor Government's changes to the modern award objective have made it impossible for 24/7 industries such as hospitality to successfully prosecute cases to abolish penalty rates and should be scrapped, according to the peak body for restaurant employers.
The Office of the Australian Small Business Commissioner is pushing for the full adult wage to be paid from the age of 18, questioning the rationale behind the IR system "deeming adulthood to commence at 21".
Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party Senator Ricky Muir has supported penalty rates and touched on his former role as a CFMEU shop steward in his first speech to federal parliament, while Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon has used the chamber to attack FWBC head Nigel Hadgkiss's employment history.
A senior member of the Fair Work Commission has knocked back an enterprise agreement containing a voluntary additional hours provision lodged by a labour hire company with a workforce of casuals on working holiday visas.
Hospitality and retail employers have detailed the substantial cuts they are seeking to penalty rates in the FWC's four-yearly modern award review, and say they will rely on expert evidence from a Deloitte economist to back their case.
A new study shows that more than half of employed Australians who receive additional pay for non-standard hours would stop working them if those penalties were removed, countering claims from some employers that the work patterns are a lifestyle choice.
