The FWC has identified 11 award provisions, extending to overtime, reasonable additional hours and on-call, that might interact with new terms to entrench the right to disconnect, ahead of the new laws taking effect in late August.
The ACTU is urging the FWC to include in a model delegates' rights clause an entitlement to ask non-members to join their union and to advocate on their behalf, along with a prohibition on employers dealing directly with workers they are representing in some circumstances.
The FWC is inviting final comment on proposed variations to 147 awards to reflect the elevation of superannuation to a guaranteed NES right under last year's Protecting Worker Entitlements legislation.
The FWC no longer plans to deal with workers' right to disconnect during consultations in the work and care arm of its modern awards review, while it has tweaked its timetable and is inviting input by tomorrow afternoon on a survey that includes questions about working from home.
The ACTU is calling for a boost to casuals' loading, leave entitlements and roster stability, plus the scrapping of individual flexibility agreements, in a submission to the FWC's job security modern awards review, while the ASU and FAAA are seeking an overhaul of airline cabin crew and ground staff awards.
The FWC has delayed the start of consultations on the job security element of its modern awards review until February 27 and has made it clear that any broader issues regarding the construction of the Secure Jobs amendments is a separate full bench matter.
The FWC is seeking feedback by March 12 on the possible incorporation into modern awards of key recommendations of the recent Senate work and care inquiry, including rights to work from home and to disconnect from the workplace.
The FWC has published a digital database of the 2008-09 award modernisation process, comprising thousands of searchable documents making up what then Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard described as a "historic reform" of Australia's awards system.
FWC President Adam Hatcher has given the BCA another fortnight to make a compliant submission to the awards review after it filed a proposal "directly contrary" to the scope of the project.
