The first public policy changes to boost workers' power in more than 30 years - under the Albanese Government - have coincided with an increase in nominal and real wages and a rise in workers' share of the fruits of the economy, according to the Centre for Future Work's David Peetz.
The number of workers covered by agreements has risen by 36.5% over the past three years, according to the latest triennial FWC general manager's report, while applications to deal with bargaining disputes rose 73.5% over the same period.
Private sector bargained pay rises have fallen below 4%, while the public sector has recorded the slowest growth in 18 months, according to new DEWR data.
A RBA research paper co-authored by board member and former FWC head Iain Ross says wage rises have peaked across all pay-setting methods, but real unit labour costs are continuing to outpace WPI growth and contribute to elevated underlying inflation, largely driven by compulsory super increases.
Employers and workers experienced in bargaining still misunderstand key concepts, and their knowledge gaps contribute to unrealistic expectations on both sides that constrain effective negotiations, new FWC-commissioned research has found.
Four weeks ahead of employees winning a legislated right to disconnect, public service employers have been told they will need to train HR professionals and managers about the interaction of the new entitlement with general protections laws and consider updating job descriptions to ensure they "accurately reflect" expectations about after-hours contact.
Closing Loopholes 2 provisions that substantially increase penalties for breaching the Fair Work Act should prompt employers to consider boosting their investment in payroll systems and checking compliance, Adelaide University Professor of Law Andrew Stewart says.
The NTEU has contributed to a doubling of Indigenous employment in tertiary education over the past two decades, by creating a "unique" union structure and using collective bargaining to establish employment targets and other Indigenous-specific provisions in enterprise agreements, an academic says.
Award wage increases have responded to rather than contributed to higher price inflation, and although the tight labour market has brought higher pay growth, it is "not enough to be a threat to slowing price inflation", according to a leading labour market economist.
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.
