Shadow IR Minister Brendan O'Connor has questioned whether industry awards are operating as a "decent safety net" any more, signalling that Labor is looking at ways to change the Fair Work Act to ensure negotiations over workers' wages and conditions are conducted "on a level playing field".
Protracted negotiations over oil and gas agreements in the Bass Strait have moved a step closer to arbitration following the Victorian Government's application to terminate bargaining in the face of looming strike action.
The FWC has knocked out United Voice's bid to review copies of documents supporting an enterprise agreement application it suspected of "undercutting" employees' conditions and not being genuinely agreed, observing the union was trying to do the Commission's job.
Leading employment law practitioners have predicted it is only a matter of time before Australia sees a test case similar to UK's recent landmark Uber decision which found drivers were employees, not contractors.
The Turnbull Government has accused ABC management of breaching the public sector bargaining policy, expressing "utmost concern" after a new enterprise agreement covering 5000 employees was voted up this week.
The AWU has accused the FWBC and a heavy equipment supplier of using the national construction code as a "Trojan horse" to cut pay and condition of workers outside the building industry.
Teacher strike off as QTU offer matches Catholic counterparts; New edition of Creighton & Stewart's "Labour Law" on sale; ACTU marks 50th anniversary of seminal rights dispute.
A big marine service provider has had a win against the MUA in the deadlocked bargaining round covering offshore oil and gas service vessels, which began in December 2012.
Queensland's top Catholic school teachers will earn more than $100,000 a year after IEU members voted overwhelmingly to endorse a new collective agreement.
The NUW has won average pay increases of about 4.75% a year for 650 workers after a three-day strike at a major Victorian distribution centre for Coles supermarkets.
