In a reply submission ahead of an FWC full bench hearing in Sydney tomorrow, United Voice and the AEU have hit out at employers' objections to the use of a 2005 work value case to establish metalworkers as an appropriate comparator in their equal pay claim for early childhood workers.
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in underpayments after a full Federal Court today held that an old State award that continued to dictate their pay was superseded three years ago.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 Workplace Gender Equality Agency says "remarkable" growth in employers analysing their data for gender pay gaps means more than half now have formal strategies to address imbalances, but its annual scorecard reveals the overall $26,527 gender pay gap has decreased only marginally.
The FWO has initiated its first contempt of court application against a Cairns businessman for allegedly breaching a freezing order by transferring $41,035 out of two company accounts to a family trust when still owing $85,000 to the Commonwealth and former employees.
Private sector rates of pay excluding bonuses are growing at 1.9% a year in trend terms, up from the recent historic low of 1.8%, according to the ABS.
ACTU leader Sally McManus is set to begin campaigning for major changes to minimum wage-setting, including tying it to a proportion of the median wage, along the lines of the UK's model.
The Federal Court has tossed out a challenge to an FWC full bench decision, describing confidence in the administration of justice as a "significant factor" in finding Energy Australia's case an abuse of process.
The Federal court system faces an unprecedented half-day strike by support staff this afternoon over stalled pay negotiations which have left them without a rise for four years.
The FWC's minimum wage panel has decided against holding a preliminary hearing to consider new research on the budget required to sustain a healthy lifestyle, after the proposal only won support from Catholic employers.