Australia's largest bus operator has been fined $181,000 after a judge considered an internal email to its chief executive warning of the "very real possibility of being accused of 'wage theft'" if it did not pay more than 750 drivers an overdue wage increase.
Victoria's Andrews Labor Government is calling for an increase of at least the CPI - currently 3.5% - to the federal minimum wage and all modern award rates on the basis that consumer price inflation movements mean anything less would be a pay cut.
A large employer organisation has called for the FWC to award minimum pay rises of 2.5% to 3% to help maintain living standards amid rising inflation, albeit with pay rises delayed for industries hardest hit by the pandemic.
The ACTU will pursue a 5% increase across all award rates in this year's minimum wage review, arguing it is needed to compensate workers for cost of living pressures.
In a potential signal ahead of this year's annual wage review, New Zealand will next month raise its minimum wage by 6% on the back of higher-than-expected inflation.
The FWC's minimum wage panel has revealed that it is developing a consumer price index for low paid households and a budget of discretionary items required to participate in society, while one of its members says the pandemic will make that already difficult task even more complex.
The UK Labour Party has opened its annual conference by pledging to follow the New Zealand example of introducing "Fair Pay Agreements", as part of a "New Deal" for Britain's 31 million workers.
Woolworths has confirmed it will pay the 2.5% minimum wage increase to employees from the first week of next month, avoiding a repeat of the dispute it had last year with retail unions over the timing of pay rises to workers in its supermarkets and Big W stores.
The FWC has approved a 2.5% increase in all award rates in its minimum wage ruling handed down this afternoon and has again delayed rises for sectors most affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
The ACTU's latest submission to the FWC's minimum wage panel has seized on Federal Budget forecasts that wage growth will lag behind inflation until 2024-25, arguing it is a "mystery" who else has the power to influence that trajectory.