On the heels of this week's rejection of a United Voice and AEU equal pay bid for childcare workers, the IEU on Monday heads to the FWC to press its separate claim on behalf of 12,000 university-qualified teachers employed in long day care centres and preschools.
Abandonment of employment clauses have been removed from six modern awards in the wake of an FWC full bench ruling that employers must take the "additional step" of ending the employment relationship when a worker walks off the job.
FWC President Iain Ross is proposing to delay starting the next four-yearly review of awards that is due to begin "as soon as practicable" after January 1, but is seeking parties' views on the issue.
Labor's audacious bid to restore penalty rates in the retail and hospitality sectors by piggy-backing one of the Federal Government's own IR bills fell at the first hurdle today, when rebel Nationals MP George Christensen indicated he could not support legislation that failed to protect businesses from back-pay claims.
The future of a joint union equal pay claim for childcare workers is hanging in the balance after an FWC full bench was yesterday left searching for "real world" scenarios establishing metalworkers as a suitable comparator.
The ETU has declared a major payday for more than 4000 Queensland apprentices it claims are owed $70 million in underpayments after a full Federal Court today held that an old State award that continued to dictate their pay was superseded three years ago.
The FWC has confirmed the retention of existing Sunday penalty rates for restaurant workers, a full bench noting employers' inability to muster persuasive evidence to support claims cuts would boost jobs.
The concept of the "farm gate" is virtual rather than physical in the horticultural sector, an FWC full bench has found in a coverage decision it backdated by eight years to ensure employers are not exposed to backpay claims.
In one of the first extended discussions about the capacity to include incidental matters in modern awards, the FWC has called for further submissions on how or whether to incorporate a standard clause that would permit employers to deduct up to five weeks pay when employees quit without giving sufficient notice.
A full Federal Court will tomorrow hand down its ruling on the union bid to quash the Fair Work Commission's decision to cut penalty rates in the retail and hospitality sectors.
