IR academic Chris F Wright has urged the Senate inquiry into the Closing Loopholes Bill to "recommend support" for the legislation, which he says is needed to update a regulatory framework that has "not adapted to fundamental changes in the labour market".
Legal limits on the scope of bargaining mean that safety laws might provide a better avenue to address workplace climate change impacts than using enterprise agreements, according to an IR law academic.
A union involved in more than 20% of the FWC's s448A compulsory conciliation conferences since they started in June says they come with a significant "risk versus reward overlay" that threatens to derail protected action and an "urgent fix" is required.
The FWC's national practice leader for bargaining says "almost all" members are issuing directions in addition to attendance orders ahead of compulsory post-PABO conciliations and appear to be regularly making recommendations during the conferences.
A court has ordered a worker to pay indemnity costs for her former employer's defence of a general protections claim, after she ignored legal advice and refused six settlement offers reaching up to $40,000, because she considered them "hush money".
The FWC has initiated a review of modern awards to update job security provisions, address work & care issues, and consider coverage of the arts and culture sector, after a request from Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke.
Productivity has far exceeded wage growth in mining and agriculture, but they have largely expanded together across the rest of the economy, and "productivity remains the key to continued wage growth and long-term prosperity", according to a new Productivity Commission report.
Federal Parliament has passed a trio of bills that establish the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service as an independent statutory HR agency and overhaul employment arrangements for parliamentary staff.
The FWC has listed three days of mediation from Monday in a bid to resolve the Chevron bargaining deadlock, ahead of full bench hearings from Friday on the company's applications for three intractable bargaining declarations, while Woodside platform workers are set to vote on their union-negotiated settlement.
