The creation of two new FWC expert panels on pay equity and the care and community sector will require the appointment of four additional commissioners, according to the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.
Private sector rates of pay increased to 3.4% annually in the September quarter, up from 2.7% in the previous three-month period, according to the ABS, but aneamic public sector rises have restricted the economy-wide rise to 3.1%.
A senior FWC member has declined to recuse himself from hearing a primary school teacher's unfair dismissal case after rejecting the suggestion that the Education Department's lawyer, formerly an intern at a regulatory body he briefly headed up, had been chosen "to achieve the evil purpose of influencing" his deliberations.
FWC Vice President Adam Hatcher will tomorrow consider whether to suspend or terminate Friday's indefinite national lockout by tug boat operator Svitzer, in response to deadlocked bargaining with three maritime unions.
The Minerals Council has urged a Senate inquiry to oppose the "unwarranted and destructive" expansion of multi-employer bargaining into the resources sector through the Albanese Government's Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill.
Days after the NSW Teachers Federation slammed a 6%-over-two-years pay rise for public school teachers, their Catholic school counterparts are stopping work while facing the likelihood that similar "derisory increases" will flow through to them.
In a significant ruling on the wording of strike ballots, a FWC full bench has found that the Commission should not dictate which questions can be posed or how they are framed.
Woolworths has called for the Albanese Government to initiate an urgent "proactive review" of the retail award, arguing it would produce better outcomes for their predominantly female workforce than a shift to multi-employer bargaining.
The FWC has upheld Victoria Police's rejection of a transit officer's flexibility request because it would exacerbate already "bleak" safety issues arising from understaffing in Melbourne's most crime-affected region.
Towage company Svitzer is set to lock out its harbour tugboat workforce, claiming it has been forced into it by continuing disruptive protected action by three maritime unions.
