An FWC full bench has today reserved its decision on proposed coronavirus-driven changes to the vehicle award, after a service stations peak body said reduction of hours provisions are "useless" due to minimum pay floors.
The AMWU's failure to reverse falling membership despite a succession of growth strategies highlights the limitations of "organising" to counter external threats, according to research suggesting members can themselves become a barrier to renewal.
Trade union membership has fallen below 15% even as ABS data published today shows members earn almost $300 a week more than their non-union counterparts.
The ACTU has released a new paper which argues that most casual workers get nowhere near the 25% loading due to them, instead receiving a "modest wage premium" of 4% to 5% more than permanent employees.
As the mining union prepares to ramp-up its campaign for a "just transition" for workers whose future is disrupted by climate change, its leader has warned the Labor Party that to take power at the next election, it must win the Central Queensland seats that contain thousands of coal mining and power workers.
With the Senate set as early as today to pass the Turnbull Government's income tax changes that include substantial reductions for high-income earners, the ACTU has today released a critique of the proposals to cut corporate and personal income tax that it says will further increase inequality.
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.
Expanding on its theme that the wages system is "broken", the ACTU will seek to change workplace laws so workers and unions can bargain "where the power is" across industries and franchised employers, rather than being limited to the enterprise level.
The AWU is considering the creation of a "social membership" category for supporters of the organisation and its campaigns on industrial, social and economic matters.
It's the labour movement equivalent of the corporate skunkworks: a new union within the Australian Workers Union that doesn't look anything like its distinctly un-hip parent.
