FWC Deputy President Bernadette O'Neill will oversee the new system of expert panels for pay equity and the care and community sector, the tribunal's acting president announced today.
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers has today argued for "responsible and sustainable" wage increases to ease cost of living pressures, as he emerged from an address to the ACTU's national executive in Melbourne.
Employers say the remuneration bill for workers with a disability covered by the Supported Employment Services Award might increase by up to 50% following variations that the FWC says will give them a "truly comprehensive range of fair minimum wages" for the first time.
In what it claims is its first litigation seeking to have a holding company found responsible for its subsidiaries' breaches, the FWO has initiated court action against ASX-listed Super Retail Group for self-reported underpayments of more than $1 million that led to an internal audit and backpayments exceeding $50 million that the watchdog says remain short of the mark.
Wages in private sector agreements approved in the September quarter remained stuck at 2.9% a year, defying labour shortages and inflationary pressure, according to DEWR data.
Target has paid workers a $400 lump sum bonus after they voted up a proposed four-year deal to replace its 2012 "zombie" agreement, with conditions, wages and pay rises to be tightly pinned to the retail award.
The Albanese Government says it is not feasible to fund the FWC's interim increase for aged care workers before July next year and wants to hold back a third of the 15% boost until mid-2024, but an "incredulous" HSU says the sector expects the increase to apply immediately on approval.
Enterprise agreements filed with the FWC in the fortnight to November 18 paid average annualised wage increases of 3.4%, substantially outpacing the 2.8% rises in DEWR's data for June quarter agreements but well below consumer price inflation of about 7%.
The gender pay gap is stuck at 22.8%, while more than 40% of employers that analysed the disparity between men's and women's pay in their workplaces over the past year took no action, according to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency's latest scorecard.