The four big banks are establishing hotlines for employers seeking bridging finance to make JobKeeper payments to employees and some 456,000 workers have applied for early access to super, according to the Morrison Government, which today expressed hopes of maintaining its "excellent working relationship" with the ACTU into the post-coronavirus economic recovery.
Virgin Australia will continue to operate with its 10,500 strong workforce kept in employment and accessing the Morrison government's JobKeeper wage subsidy, according to its administrator, Deloitte, while the Federal Government has appointed a former Macquarie Bank leader to liaise with the administrator.
Labor will lobby the Senate crossbench to overturn the Morrison Government's new regulations that cut the notice period that employers are required to give employees of changes to enterprise agreements.
The Registered Organisation Commission's challenge to the Federal Court's quashing of its investigation into the AWU's past donations is set to be heard next month, while the regulator has completed its investigation of an employer organisation and is awaiting advice on whether it will deregister before taking further action.
A Sydney University think tank has warned that a post-coronavirus reversal of globalisation could reduce labour productivity by up to 12%, when Australia could enjoy a 9% labour efficiency boost by matching world-leading levels of internationalisation.
An FWU conference convened this afternoon to consider granting paid pandemic leave to vulnerable workers heard that the ACTU has asked Comcare and state-based workcover schemes to declare COVID-19 an occupational disease within the health industry.
The ACTU says that a trading halt on Virgin Australia shares underlines the need for an urgent Federal Government package to support the aviation industry.
The ACCC has granted urgent interim authorisation to enable life insurers to co-ordinate to ensure a broad range of frontline healthcare workers are not excluded from coverage due to potential or actual exposure to COVID-19.
The IR system will need to change to deal with challenges arising from the COVID-19 "new normal" of working from home, according to a briefing paper by the Centre for Future Work.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has described his government's close consultation with the Opposition in drafting legislation to give effect to the JobKeeper coronavirus wage subsidy program that will be put to Parliament next week, while joining IR Minister Christian Porter in thanking unions for their cooperation in achieving "massive" temporary IR changes.
