The FWC has refused to confine same-job, same-pay orders at a BHP coal mine to haul truck drivers, because the site's industrial instruments do not use the term and on-hire employees perform various other roles.
A FWC presidential member has clarified the Commission's "global" approach to the BOOT and warned that agreements that pay only slightly above-award will attract greater scrutiny, in rejecting a West Australian coffee chain's proposed agreement.
Growth in private sector rates of pay is continuing to ease, falling from 3.6% a year in trend terms to 3.3%, while public sector growth has also dropped, according to the ABS.
The FAAA says an "in-principle" agreement with Qantas to pay on-hire cabin crew the same as their directly engaged colleagues will be "life changing", but while the Flying Kangaroo has committed to backpaying the difference to November last year it is apparently unable to indicate when it might hit workers' pockets.
A FWC expert panel has decided to phase in work value pay rises for aged care nurses over three tranches from March next year to August 2026, rejecting a Federal Government call to spread it over four instalments between next July and October 2027, while its decision on classification structures has disappointed the ANMF.
The FWC has refused to approve a Subway franchisee's proposed deal designed to replace a zombie agreement, finding it not genuinely agreed because the employer failed to adequately explain which allowances would be absorbed into the rate of pay, and that penalty and minimum rates would freeze for the life of the agreement.
The Albanese Government's legislation to link its funding for the 15% work value pay rise for early childhood educators to limits on childcare operator fee increases, to ensure the funding is reflected in workers' wages, has passed parliament.
Qantas has agreed to top-up the pay of freight workers at subsidiary Australian Air Express by almost $7000 a year to achieve parity with their directly-engaged colleagues after the ASU raised the prospect of lodging a same-job same-pay claim.
The FWC has cleared the way for a Philippines-based paralegal to pursue her unfair dismissal claim, finding her an employee of a Queensland law firm that paid her $12 an hour below award.
