Assistant productivity minister Andrew Leigh says Australians have used about a quarter of the post-1980 productivity dividend to "work less", as he revisited a 1930 John Maynard Keynes prediction that people in 2030 "would inherit a world shaped by rising productivity and the promise of abundance".
With the Greens pledging today to use their power in the Senate to create the "most progressive parliament" Australia has seen, labour law academic Andrew Stewart says there is "every reason" to expect movement on their priority IR issues, such as a four-day working week and reproductive leave.
In response to a grieving mother's petition, Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt has committed to legislating to prevent employers from cancelling employer-paid parental leave for parents dealing with stillbirth or early infant death.
The Ai Group has accused Labor of disregarding its re-empowered IR umpire by taking out of its hands decisions to remove or reduce award penalty rates.
As Labor makes non-compete clauses an election issue with a promise to ban them for workers earning less than $175,000 a year, a court has agreed that a major cleaning services company could suffer "irreparable harm" if not granted a temporary injunction to prevent a former manager from soliciting clients or poaching employees.
The Coalition is struggling to send a clear message on how it intends to shed 41,000 public service jobs if it wins the federal election, sidestepping claims by its campaign spokesperson that voluntary redundancies have always been part of its policy.
Australia "remains a global laggard" on work/family benefits and the next federal government should extend paid parental leave to 52 weeks, split carers and personal leave into separate 10-day entitlements, and investigate extending personal/carers and annual leave to casual workers, according to an academic group's report.
The Coalition has reversed its stance on working from home in the federal public sector, while also shifting its position on slashing the APS workforce by 41,000, saying it will now be achieved over five years by natural attrition and hiring freezes, but the CPSU is warning this will still have a "devastating" effect on services.
