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.
The ALP should hand power to individual members of affiliated unions to vote on its leadership and candidates rather than leaving it in the hands of secretaries, says national president Mark Butler.
The Turnbull Government has listed two contested IR Bills for the debate in the Senate next week, setting it at odds with union calls to hold back controversial legislation until the citizenship status of MPs is clarified.
A Federal Labor Government would require that workers who vote on a new enterprise agreement be representative of those who will eventually be covered by it.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is calling for businesses, unions and employers to do "something radical, something profoundly different" by resuming 1980s-style cooperation to end wage stagnation and boost the economy.
