The ACTU says the FWC should conduct a "comprehensive assessment" of gender-based undervaluation of work, rather than seek to finalise the issue in this year's minimum wage review.
FWC President Adam Hatcher has given the BCA another fortnight to make a compliant submission to the awards review after it filed a proposal "directly contrary" to the scope of the project.
Awards do not adequately cover visual artists and the "preferable solution" is for the FWC to create a new award, the ACTU says in its submission to the modern awards review, while also recommending the Government extend the Closing Loopholes Bill's "employee-like" definition to non-digital platform workers.
The FWC has today launched the next stage of its gender pay equity research, in which it will examine a dozen awards covering highly-feminised sectors to uncover indicators of gender-based undervaluation of minimum rates, ahead of the 2023-24 annual wage review.
University research commissioned by the FWC has identified 29 "large, highly feminised" and probably undervalued occupations covered by 13 modern awards that it might spotlight in the current annual wage review, in response to the Secure Jobs' imperative to address unequal remuneration and gender undervaluation in minimum rates of pay.
The RBA says several new early indicators it has developed in-house are helping it to build a "fuller view" of wage movements ahead of the release of official figures.
The FWC will next Tuesday hear responses to its draft timetable for reviewing modern awards to update job security provisions, address work & care issues, weigh whether it can make them easier to use; and consider coverage of the arts and culture sector.
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 RBA is continuing to warn about the dangers of a wage-price spiral, saying the chances of it have declined, but could rise again if the FWC awards a "large" minimum rise this year or government employers ease or drop pay caps.
The Albanese Government has outlined for the first time the details of how it might implement its "same job, same pay" proposal that it framed to ensure labour hire arrangements are not used to undercut employees' pay and conditions.