In another setback in their 18-month long bid to have their deal bedded down, the AIRC has rejected an application by the SDA and McDonald's to vary and extend a 2004 agreement covering the company's South Australian and Northern Territory franchises because some of the fast-food outlets' owners have changed.
Government to remove IR exemption from FOI laws; ACTU video welcomes passing of Fair Work Bill; Get tough on bank job shedding, says FSU; NZ Govt to subsidise nine-day fortnight; CFMEU fined for coercing employer over AWAs; April 9 deadline for submissions to transitional IR Bill inquiry; and WA minimum wage case calls for submissions
Small businesses could find it difficult to figure out if they fall under the new 15 full-time equivalent employee unfair dismissal threshold according to the University of Adelaide's Professor Andrew Stewart, who has produced a new guide to the Fair Work legislation.
The Federal Government has told the Australian Fair Pay Commission it risks increasing unemployment if it delivers an "excessive" wage rise to the low-paid in this year's minimum wage review.
The ACCI, ARA and NFF have called for the Fair Pay Commission to impose a wage freeze when it hands down its annual minimum wage decision in July, while the AiG has asked for an $8-a-week rise and a cut in taxes for the low paid.
The $21-a-week increase the ACTU is seeking in the Fair Pay Commission's 2009 minimum wage review is affordable in the current economic circumstances and won't reduce employment, secretary Jeff Lawrence says.
The Fair Work Bill has passed through the Senate, after the Government reached an agreement with Senator Steve Fielding on phasing-in its definition of small business for unfair dismissal purposes.
Employer groups have criticised as "one-sided" new take-home pay orders in the Government's transitional IR bill and called on the Senate to address their concerns on increased labour costs stemming from award modernisation.
The Government has, as expected, refused to accept the Senate's amendments to the Fair Work Bill's definition of small business for unfair dismissal purposes and has sent the legislation back to the Senate, where there is still room for a last-minute deal with Senators Nick Xenophon and Steve Fielding.
