The Federal Opposition will tell the FWC in a submission today that it no longer has confidence that the minimum wage framework can provide the increases needed by the lowest paid and that its "periodic assessments" to examine the minimum wage relative to the median wage have failed to deliver.
SA's firefighters have questioned the role of their union and a popular fundraising calendar in perpetuating "blokey" stereotypes and a non-inclusive culture, according to an Equal Opportunity Commission report that the Metropolitan Fire Service has welcomed as a "watershed moment".
Wage theft is "partly inherent" in the business models of some major Australian franchise networks, according to a new report by an influential federal parliamentary committee.
An FWC full bench has given a mental health service volunteer another shot at applying for anti-bullying orders after quashing a finding that, because he was participating in a government-funded program to improve his wellbeing, he was not a "worker" according to the federal WHS Act.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus has conceded the chances of the Fair Work Commission granting the union movement's claim for a 6% increase in minimum wages are "not massive".
NSW Labor says that if it wins the March 23 state election it will ditch public sector pay caps in favour of a bargaining framework that allows the IRC to grant productivity-based increases, while shadow IR Minister Adam Searle accuses the Berejiklian Government of a budget blowout due to a reliance on insecure labour.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and a key frontbencher have separately indicated that a Labor Government might be willing to change the Fair Work Act's minimum wages objective to guide the FWC in moving towards a "living wage".
The ACTU will today unveil a claim for a 6% increase in the national minimum wage, which would translate to an extra $43 a week for Australia's lowest-paid workers.
The NUW claims the Chemist Warehouse group has sought to immediately break an indefinite strike, which started today at warehouses in Victoria and Queensland.
