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Industrial relations

Yesterday

Labor’s recent IR reforms have handed the Fair Work Commission expanded powers over pay and conditions.

Employers ask for Fair Work reform in roundtable pitch

Employers are seeking union agreement on a tripartite committee that would pick new members for the powerful workplace umpire, including its next president.

This Month

NSW’s residential construction market has historically had little unionisation, compared with the broader sector.

‘Killing the Australian dream’: Liberal slams CFMEU expansion push

Senator Andrew Bragg says a push by the union’s NSW branch to recruit members in the multistorey residential construction sector will push up prices.

CFMEU NSW executive director Michael Crosby told delegates the CFMEU needed to expand into the non-union construction sectors.

CFMEU moves into housing sector in bid to rebuild power

A newly appointed CFMEU NSW boss has vowed to extend the union’s reach into housing, opening up a new front for the union seeking to rebuild its power.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus said management was one of the biggest drivers of poor productivity.

Bosses blast union productivity comments as ‘a distraction’

Employers have roasted ACTU chief Sally McManus over her statement that poor management is driving poor productivity, describing it as “misguided” and “wrong”.

Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Amanda Rishworth denied the bill would affect existing salary conditions.

Labor’s new penalty rate laws risk unwinding salaries

The bill could lead to the scrapping of decades-old conditions, risking a shakeup for hospitality, health and legal professionals.

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Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie expects the commission of inquiry to take about 12 months.

Queensland expands CFMEU inquiry to probe underworld

The state government will extend the terms of reference following revelations about gangland associates expanding into Brisbane’s construction industry.

Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black.

AI a Trojan horse for more IR regulation, business warns

CEOs invited to next month’s meeting fear artificial intelligence will be used as cover to push for unions to have veto power over the introduction of technologies.

John Stone’s condemnation of excessive government debt caused by fiscal mismanagement, protectionism, and overregulated labour markets, and the disproportionate power wielded by trade unions, inspired a new generation of economic thinking.

The economic giant the political class tried to ignore

Despite being maligned by Australia’s political and economic establishment, John Stone had the necessary fortitude and the intellect to shift debate.

Former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has warned industry leaders not to fall into the same trap as they did at Labor’s 2022 jobs summit.

‘We’re being done over’: Alan Joyce fears repeat of Labor’s 2022 jobs summit

The former Qantas CEO suggests business seeks a guarantee that the productivity summit isn’t orchestrated.

In February 2025 gig economy workers gained the right to challenge unfair deactivation.

Uber drivers fail to reclaim gig work under new labour laws

The Fair Work Commission has criticised Uber’s communication with “deactivated” drivers, but the first 18 attempts by gig workers to be reinstated have all failed

One reader asks whether Israel’s treatment of Gaza is any worse than what the allies had to do in World War II.

Gaza is a tragedy, but is it any worse than Dresden or Hiroshima?

Readers’ letters on housing development, the Middle East crisis, and the proposed Tibetan hydroelectricity dam.

Workers’ compensation is costing way more in one state than the others

Disability providers, disadvantaged by higher workers’ comp premiums in NSW relative to other states, have backed Labor’s reform bill.

Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth

Penalty rate push undermines productivity summit

A bill enshrining penalty rates in law will be among the first through parliament next week, but is at odds with the government’s productivity goals.

Minister for Industrial Relations Murray Watt.

The roundtable needs to be Labor’s ‘Nixon in China’ IR moment

Labor needs to challenge its policy and political orthodoxies on workplace regulation to fix the nation’s economic malaise.

Company directors could be held liable or disqualified under new proposals.

Directors with multiple strikes on unpaid wages ‘should be banned’

Unions want directors to be personally liable – or face automatic disqualification – for repeated use of safety net to pay worker entitlements.

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Unions have lodged a dispute over Bupa’s plans to change staff rostering at its 57 residential care homes.

Fresh woes for Bupa after backlash over aged care changes

The nursing union has lodged a dispute in the Fair Work Commission over Bupa’s decision to change staffing hours in its 57 residential nursing homes.

Rag trade ruling leaves taxpayers on the hook for unpaid wages

The unpaid wages safety net prevents workers being out of pocket in a corporate collapse. But without a deterrent, it can become a corporate handout.

Bianca Glenday (Don’t mention name in published caption) who wishes to remain anonymous, is photographed at her home in Brisbane, July 8, 2025. Ms Glenday is a HR manager who says that an offer of a position by the Busy Bees childcare group was withdrawn after revealing she was pregnant.

Picture: Dan Peled

New hire allegedly sacked one hour after advising of pregnancy

A company has been accused of telling its new hire “it’s not going to work out” because she was pregnant.

All up, 226 McDonald’s franchisees used the program, according to documents obtained by The Australian Financial Review under freedom of information.

Union pulls trigger for national pay deal at McDonald’s

The retail union has launched legal action to extend landmark bargaining orders for 5000 workers in South Australia to 115,000 workers around the country.

Builders say the dismissal of union organisers will pave the way for real change in the industry.

CFMEU purge is on as report slams ‘violent, misogynistic’ union

The number of CFMEU officials that have quit or been removed has ramped up in the past three weeks as a High Court win bolsters the union administration.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/industrial-relations-5yl