The Coalition has today revealed a pre-election compromise position on its long-held push for "life-of-project" agreements, which would have a maximum term of six years, down on the eight-year regime jettisoned from its IR Omnibus Bill, but unions say it amounts to another Government strategy to cap pay rises.
The FWC faces major changes after the May 21 Federal election, with the winner entrusted with appointing a successor to President Iain Ross and Labor pledging to "rebalance" the tribunal after a succession of appointments from an employer background.
The AWU has admitted to more than 24,000 historic contraventions of registered organisations' obligations to report their membership numbers, a Senate Estimates committee has heard.
An IR manager who recently gave evidence in his company's FWC bid for a s418 anti-industrial-action order will now be sitting on the Commission's bench, after Attorney-General and IR Minister Michaelia Cash made a last-minute appointment ahead of the election anticipated next month.
A large employer organisation has called for the FWC to award minimum pay rises of 2.5% to 3% to help maintain living standards amid rising inflation, albeit with pay rises delayed for industries hardest hit by the pandemic.
The ACTU will pursue a 5% increase across all award rates in this year's minimum wage review, arguing it is needed to compensate workers for cost of living pressures.
The Federal Government is forecasting in its 2022-23 Budget that wage growth will increasingly outpace consumer price inflation for the next four financial years, after lagging badly in the current 12 months.
The ACTU has distributed to thousands of union member households a trio of election corflutes that seek to mock Prime Minister Scott Morrison over his 2019 Hawaiian holiday as the "black summer" bushfires roared, ahead of the Coalition's attempted spending counter-attack in today's Federal Budget
With a federal election likely in May, IR Minister Michaelia Cash has thumbed her nose at Labor's plan to axe the Registered Organisations Commission, giving Mark Bielecki another two years as its leader.