Agreements and bargaining page 170 of 175

The ACTU has produced a “bargaining toolkit” to help unions to pursue claims to offset Federal Budget measures, including the $7 GP co-payment, a freeze on child care rebates and the re-indexation of fuel excise.

The Fair Work Commission says that excluding supervisor-level employees from enterprise agreements is normal practice, and that those seeking to be included via scope orders need to present strong evidence to win the day.

The Fair Work Commission has ordered the MUA not to push for "Australians first" job clauses that might breach anti-discrimination laws during the hotly-contested enterprise bargaining round in the offshore oil and gas services sector.

Employers seeking to make greenfields agreements for new projects will need to ensure they haven't employed any workers "necessary" for the enterprise, a Fair Work Commission full bench has confirmed today.

Employees of national retailer Spotlight will return to award conditions today, after enterprise bargaining negotiations with the SDA failed and the union convinced the Fair Work Commission to terminate the company's first-ever collective agreement.

Toyota Australia has provided for $384 million in employee redundancies as part of a massive write-down of its operating result for 2013-14.

The MUA pushed ahead with a 24-hour strike at Tidewater Marine today, ahead of the broader dispute over bargaining in the offshore oil and gas service sector heading back to the Fair Work Commission.

The FSU will push to flow on changes in performance pay agreed with the National Australia Bank into upcoming bargaining grounds at the other three big banks.

The Queensland Government has foreshadowed that it will argue for a new test for what constitutes a trading corporation, when the High Court later this year hears a union bid to ensure Queensland Rail workers remain covered by the Fair Work Act despite the state government's de-corporatisation of the rail authority.

The Senate's Education and Employment Legislation Committee has recommended today that the upper house pass the government's Fair Work Amendment Bill unamended, with the ALP and the Greens tabling separate reports opposing the legislation.