The Fair Work Commission has resumed hearing another round of deadlocked pay talks involving Victorian firefighters, threatening more political problems for the Andrews Labor government.
HACSU says the Tasmanian Government has formally offered paramedics an 8% backdated pay rise, but describes negotiations as being hampered by a public sector wages policy "as elusive as a garden fairy".
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation says it has locked in an additional 1% annual hike on top of the South Australian government's proposed 1.5% public sector pay cap, amid concerns about the creation of a "two-tiered" public service.
The IEU's Queensland branch says the state's top Catholic school teachers would earn more than $100,000 annually under a proposed deal negotiated with the help of the FWC's New Approaches program.
The FSU says the banking sector's days of tying employees' pay to sales is "coming to an end", as it presents a newly-endorsed claim to the National Australia Bank and the Australian Bankers' Association reviews sales incentives.
The Opposition has hinted that a Shorten Labor Government would axe the Coalition Government's public sector bargaining policy and the 2% wage cap, while 30,000 Victorian public sector employees are set to receive a backdated pay rise after voting up a new agreement.
Wage growth in private sector federal agreements approved by the FWC in the December quarter of last year dropped to a new 24-year low, according to the Department of Employment.
Victorian state school teachers are pushing for a reduction in face-to-face teaching hours under a new enterprise agreement, along with caps on class size and greater job security.
