The union that represents cleaners, disability care workers and security guards is asking the FWC to "convene a special process" in the second half of the year to determine whether it can set a "medium-term target" for the minimum wage, to arrest what it says is a long-term downward trajectory.
The Productivity Commission, in its final report on the IR system today, says the FWC should be broken up into two bodies, with the new institution to determine minimum wages and awards.
ACTU secretary Dave Oliver says that unions are "very receptive" to the Turnbull Government's emphasis on innovation, after the "negativity and conflict" under former Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
The Federal Treasury used a "cabinet sensitive" briefing to urge newTreasurer Scott Morrison to boost labour market flexibility, seizing the opportunity presented by the Productivity Commission's review of Australia's workplace system.
A Queensland parliamentary inquiry will consider licensing and registration of labour hire companies as the state becomes the third jurisdiction to launch investigations into allegations of sham contracting and abuses of visa workers by labour suppliers.
At the National Reform Summit in Canberra today, the ACTU will urge the Turnbull Government to adopt measures to boost multifactor and capital productivity, arguing that labour productivity has been growing and "is not the problem".
The federal government has introduced legislation to outlaw "payment for visa" activities and will give the immigration minister the discretion to cancel the visas of those involved in the practice.
Employers are likely to maintain their own paid parental leave schemes even if the Abbott Government's proposed Bill to prevent so-called parent "double-dipping" into government and employer-funded schemes becomes law, according to a key employer group.
