This Month
Unions will push AI regulation and pay at productivity summit
White-collar groups want protections for workers disrupted by artificial intelligence while blue-collar ones are seeking wage rises through productivity boosts.
BHP sparkies fight for $250k pay standard in the Pilbara
Electricians in the Pilbara are preparing to fight for an 18 per cent pay rise, while critical rail workers have opened up a new union front.
Pub directors facing tax scam allegations chased for $245m
Two alleged players in what may be one of the country’s biggest GST scams if proven face legal action alleging breaches of directors’ duties and insolvency laws.
Unions turn on each other in war over Woodside gas
A vicious fight is playing out on WA’s biggest construction project, raising the spectre of major industrial disruption next year as pay talks get under way.
Miners fight back in the Pilbara with cash and lawyers
Rio Tinto and BHP are pushing back against attempts to unionise the iron ore-rich region for the first time in 30 years.
ABC staffer takes broadcaster to court in test case
The ABC is accused of breaching labour laws by pushing staff into multiple fixed-term contracts and failing to offer job security.
The surprise pay rise tucked away in minimum wage ruling
Employer groups have reacted with alarm to the Fair Work Commission’s proposal, which was buried inside the 63-page minimum wage decision.
Minister accused of intervention in penalty rates case
New Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth’s letter to the Fair Work Commission has prompted it to consider delaying its ruling on retail workers’ penalty rates.
Female lawyers may be in line for a big pay rise
Graduate lawyers, academics, actors, architects and book editors are next in line for potentially significant gender pay rises following the minimum wage decision.
Historic real increase to minimum wage ‘not sustainable’
Employers say the Fair Work Commission has underestimated how bad productivity growth is and the biggest real increase to award wages since 2019 can’t be sustained.
Make penalties on WFH part of productivity talks, business tells Labor
Employers will push for flexibility around work hours and penalty rates when employees work from home in talks with the workplace relations minister.
Sacked teacher uses right to disconnect to sue for $800k
The case is the first public legal action to cite the Albanese government’s new right to disconnect laws.
May
Building union turns to actors’ rep to try to reverse exodus
The CFMEU administrator has appointed the former head of the actors’ union to turn around a dramatic decline in membership at the union’s key power base.
CFMEU’s power base threatened as membership plunges
Leaked data shows membership in the construction union’s second-biggest branch has fallen by almost 17 per cent in the year to March.
‘Let’s make some money together’: Inside the CFMEU’s bribery scandal
Sometimes it was a foot tap, other times a little kick, but either way cash was passed under the table to the union boss.
WFH staff attend personal matters on work time: Fair Work report
Employers have seized on a major Fair Work Commission survey that found three out of four employees working from home are dealing with non-work matters.
The 10 occupations targeted by ACTU gender pay blitz
Business will be hit by the next wave of gender pay reviews as unions ask Fair Work to prioritise industries that cover 350,000 workers.
Report casts doubt on Queensland plan to shrink project costs
The state government’s promise to chip away at state debt through savings made from scrapping union-friendly entitlements has been contested by a new report.
The $121m Qantas conundrum that will reshape union legal action
The TWU bid to be paid more than $100 million in fines by Qantas for illegal sacking 2000 ground staff could spur a wave of litigation against large companies.
Why this year (really) is crunch time for pay rises
Years of flatlining productivity have finally caught up with the minimum wage and this year’s decision could set the standard for years to come.