New Zealand will consider enabling unions and employers to charge a bargaining fee for non-members under a new system of fair pay agreements that would mandate minimum rates and conditions across low-paid industries.
ACTU leader Sally McManus has written to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, asking him to implement a three-point plan that would lift aggregate annual wage growth from the current level of about 2.3% to about 3.5%.
The re-election of the Morrison Coalition Government has preserved the features of the current industrial relations system, but left unanswered questions over its workplace agenda for the next three years.
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.
Federal Labor has pledged to establish a new low-cost small claims jurisdiction to deal with wage underpayments, which will "sit alongside" the Fair Work Commission.
The International Labour Organisation wants to avoid the "trap of technological determination" and ensure people are at the centre of its approach to the future of work, according to its deputy director-general, Greg Vines.
Labor has pledged to immediately increase the minimum wage for skilled overseas visa workers to $65,000 - a rise of almost 21% - if it wins the Federal election
