Newly-installed IR Minister Christian Porter has singled out the ailing enterprise bargaining system as one of his first priorities, highlighting the need to reduce "complexities" standing in the way of agreement-making.
A senior FWC member has told an IR conference that problems associated with a "radical disjunct" between the common law and award definitions of casuals will "snowball" if not resolved, while the cause of stunted wage growth in the face of strong labour market conditions lies beyond orthodox thinking.
A veteran bank teller with grandchild caring responsibilities has persuaded the FWC that it would be unreasonable for her position to be relocated to branches requiring extra driving time of 70 minutes each day.
The TWU will today raise the spectre of nationwide airport and road freight strikes as it pursues "sector-wide rates" for 38,000 workers covered by 200 expiring enterprise agreements.
The FWC will reconsider a mining company's bid to terminate an eight-year-old agreement covering no workers, a full bench finding a senior member gave it no opportunity to address his concern that it would not be in the public interest prior to talks with the CFMMEU.
The FWC has labelled a "fishing expedition" an attempt by the United Firefighters' Union to access a vast array of documents from the Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board, in an alleged dispute over budget cuts the union claims will negatively impact its members.
A University of Sydney lecturer sacked after superimposing a swastika on an Israeli flag in teaching materials and social media posts is relying on political opinion protections in the Fair Work Act and academic freedom clauses, claiming he was really dismissed for challenging his treatment.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has pledged to hold a national summit between business and unions if he wins the federal election on Saturday, in another nod to the Hawke era of consensus-building in the 1980s.
The head of La Trobe University's Law School has accused the institution's HR executive director of acting beyond her remit and taking disproportionate disciplinary action in breach of its agreement by suspending him following complaints by an IR academic and a law lecturer.
The FWC has affirmed BHP's right to introduce roster changes recognising "lifestyle arrangements" and made a call on what constitutes "significant" support for them, after the CFMMEU failed to establish that an agreement clause only allows for bottom-up instigation.
