The agreements sector poses no threat to wage stability in the next year because of significant shifts in the way employers use labour and the reduced influence of traditional wage pacesetters, according to a leading labour academic.
The IRC has chided a company for failing to have systems in place to prevent employees working excessively long hours, after it sacked a lineworker whose failure to complete testing led to a customer receiving an electric shock.
The ACTU has put a positive spin on the union membership statistics released today by the ABS, maintaining they show that, for the first time in more than a decade, the number of workers who belong to unions is up.
The NSW IRC's decision this week on the AWU's internal stoush has ramifications extending to unfair contract cases, with the Commission in Court Session for the first time ruling that it has the power to issue wide-ranging interlocutory injunctions.
Union membership in Australia is continuing its steady decline, with just 24.7% of the overall workforce and 19.1% of the private sector now members, according to the latest ABS survey.
More than 14% of employees who have leave entitlements work more than 50 hours a week, while 21% work unpaid overtime, according to a comprehensive new ABS survey of working arrangements.
In a significant decision on casual employees' access to unfair dismissal laws, a full bench of the NSW IRC has ruled that those with less then six months service are not necessarily excluded from lodging claims under the State IR Act.
