United Voice secretary Jo Schofield has made it clear that the union won't accept "baby steps" in moving to a universal industry bargaining system if Labor wins the next election, saying a misplaced trust in enterprise bargaining has been damaging for its members.
Economist and former Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission presidential member Joe Isaac has called for a major overhaul of IR laws to restore the power of unions and boost the "authority" of the IR tribunal to drive wages growth.
The CPSU says it will recommend Bureau of Meteorology workers reject a new agreement offer that relegates delegates' access rights to a side deal and makes them subject to management approval, vowing in the meantime to keep inserting campaign messages into the bureau's forecasts.
Victorian Labor Premier Daniel Andrews has pledged to create a new labour inspectorate to police wage underpayments, which will offer a competing state-based jurisdiction to the Commonwealth's Fair Work Ombudsman.
The ACTU will today release a jobs policy that calls for an end to public sector wage caps and pay freezes, along with calling time on the use of "illegitimate" fixed-term contracts in government jobs.
Legislation introduced to Parliament today by the Greens would empower the FWC to make "minimum entitlements orders" to bring gig and other "non-standard" workers under the protection of the Fair Work Act.
The Federal Labor Opposition has confirmed it is at odds with key industry bodies in accepting the link between truck drivers' pay and conditions and road safety, but stopped short of committing to re-establishing the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT).
Unions have welcomed a South Australia Labor Party promise to introduce 10 days' paid domestic violence leave if it is re-elected on Saturday week, saying they hope it will push the federal government to adopt the approach nationally.
Suppressed wage growth and rising inequality pose a threat to both Australia's economy and its political stability, according to former Labor treasurer Wayne Swan, who used a party-sponsored conference on the weekend to confirm that his personal economic settings had been "moved to the left" by the GFC.
The Tasmanian ALP has announced it will introduce industrial manslaughter laws and consider a labour hire licensing scheme if it wins the March 3 state election.
