Following a FWC decision to pay an interim 15% rise to some aged care workers, a reconstituted bench has laid out a provisional schedule to consider phasing it in, to see whether extra increases are justified and if workers who are not directly engaged should also get a pay boost.
Private sector rates of pay increased to 3.4% annually in the September quarter, up from 2.7% in the previous three-month period, according to the ABS, but aneamic public sector rises have restricted the economy-wide rise to 3.1%.
A senior FWC member has described a public transport agency's vaccination policy as "pressur[ing]" workers to "give up [the] fundamental right" to bodily integrity, before ordering it to pay five train drivers sidelined because of their non-compliance.
A Federal Court judge has while fining a franchisor almost $500,000 for deliberately underpaying Taiwanese interns speculated that a recent High Court ruling will impel more parties to agree on penalties rather than go to trial, an "unfortunate by-product" being fewer judgments offering "yardsticks" for future cases.
The Albanese Government is forecasting in its first Budget that wage growth won't exceed headline consumer price inflation until the end of next financial year.
A FWC full bench has taken a union and employer to task for failing to notify it to resume hearing the former's challenge to a contentious hospitality deal under which employees can work "voluntary" additional hours without penalties.
Agreements lodged with the FWC in the fortnight to September 9 delivered annual rises of just 2.4% – the lowest in the short history of the Commission's "real-time" bargained wage data – after education deals effectively paying 1.7% a year to more than 10,000 workers dragged down the average increase.
The Federal Court has again rounded on class action cost estimates provided by Adero Law, this time rejecting submissions that it took 180 hours to prepare pleadings in its pursuit of the Drakes supermarket chain and suggesting that it might have breached the Legal Profession Act.
RAFFWU says that despite initially challenging the approval of an independent bookseller's agreement, it will be celebrating the result for members set to benefit from a "far superior" wage structure and some of the strongest conditions in retail.
The SDA says Aldi will have to pay up to $10 million to about 4000 warehouse workers nationally while also facing potential fines after a court found pre-shift tasks required at a western Sydney distribution centre constitute work.