Private sector enterprise agreements approved in the September quarter paid an average wage rise of 3.4% a year, after construction deals providing substantial annual increases helped to lifted bargained wage deals out of the doldrums, new Department of Employment data reveals.
The Department of Employment has clawed back $54 million from failed businesses in the first 12 months of its enhanced program to recover funds outlaid under the Fair Entitlements Guarantee, more than doubling the previous year's figure.
Former ACCC chair Allan Fels will head a migrant workers taskforce that will advise the Coalition on policies to improve employment protections for overseas workers and monitor 7-Eleven's rectification of underpayments, Employment Minister Michaelia Cash announced this morning.
Pay rises in private-sector enterprise deals have climbed back above 3%, coinciding with a big reduction in agreement-making in retail and hospitality, according to the Department of Employment.
The Turnbull Government granted FWBC director Nigel Hadgkiss new powers soon before calling the federal election, in a bid to stop builders and contractors agreeing to "union-friendly" clauses in enterprise agreements.
The Abbott Government has quietly dropped re-establishing the Australian Building and Construction Commission and creating the Registered Organisations Commission as "major priorities" in its 2015-16 Budget.
The Department of Employment has crunched the numbers on Australia's 122 modern awards, finding that just half provide for weekend penalty loadings, and 26 rule them out.
The Abbott Government has rejected Labor claims that it has already decided to proceed with the Commission of Audit's recommendation to axe the Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency.
