The number of enterprise agreements terminated by the FWC has accelerated dramatically in recent years, particularly for relatively small union-negotiated deals in the construction and manufacturing sectors, according to the Department of Employment.
Private sector enterprise agreements approved in the September quarter paid an average wage rise of 3.4% a year, after construction deals providing substantial annual increases helped to lifted bargained wage deals out of the doldrums, new Department of Employment data reveals.
A senior member of the Federal Court's IR panel has warned that litigation is inevitable if those who draft enterprise agreements use euphemisms to conceal the parties' differences on terms.
Responsibility for gender equity strategies should be partially devolved from centralised HR departments to line managers, and training to combat "unconscious bias" in selection processes should be mandated for supervisors and managers, according to a new report on barriers to women's career advancement in higher education.
Wage growth in private sector federal agreements approved by the FWC in the December quarter of last year dropped to a new 24-year low, according to the Department of Employment.
"Members only" collective agreements should be introduced and it should be left to employers to decide whether to provide the same wages and conditions to non-members, according to Sydney University's Ron McCallum.
Workers on the Gorgon LNG project will begin voting on Wednesday on whether to take industrial action to push head contractor CB&I to offer shorter roster cycles, at the same time as parliamentary inquiries in WA and Queensland have weighed-up whether new regulations are needed for non-residential workforces.
Wage growth in private sector federal agreements approved by the FWC in the March quarter dropped to the lowest level since 1991, according to the Department of Employment.
There are "promising" early results from a 12-month pilot program that is seeking to speed-up the appeals process in the FWC and reduce parties' costs, according to the tribunal's president, Justice Iain Ross.
The chief executive of the $84 billion AustralianSuper fund has urged unions to ensure that they make industry super funds the default option in enterprise agreements.
