Some 20,000 Target employees will receive a 3.8% annual pay rise under one of the first major union retail agreements struck under Work Choices, while the SDA has also now finalised deals with Super Cheap Auto and Ikea.
The ACTU says its $30-a-week across-the-board wages claim, which it will formally submit to the Australian Fair Pay Commission later today, has to cover an 18-month period given the time lag between the last AIRC increase and the first one expected under the new Work Choices wage-setting regime.
The ALP will allow Fringe Benefits Tax exemptions for employers providing childcare as part of an early childhood policy that would also let workers salary sacrifice fees for employer-provided child care.
Faced with having to negotiate agreements under Work Choices for up to 80 agencies this year, the CPSU has beefed-up its bargaining resources and put in place a "core" bargaining claim to underpin its campaigns in the workplace.
The day after Opposition Leader Kim Beazley labelled the Federal Government's foreign apprenticeship visa scheme "disgraceful", the Northern Territory Government has announced it won't be participating in it.
State award pay rates are set to increase at three different levels this year, after a full bench of the Queensland IRC today granted a flat $19.40-a-week increase to state award workers, while the Tasmanian IRC followed NSW and WA in granting $20.
The ACCI is calling for significant changes to the Federal Government's independent contractors legislation to limit proposed offences and allow businesses to restructure by firing employees and rehiring them as contractors.
The ANF's willingness to be flexible on the incremental delivery of its 12% pay claim against a Victorian private nursing home showed it was not pattern bargaining, the AIRC has found.
The Fair Pay Commission has released details of four organisations it has engaged to conduct research to assist its first minimum wage determination in Spring.
CPI highest since introduction of GST; Costello celebrates memory of Dollar Sweets proprietor; and Progress on tax arrangements for Hardie asbestos compensation, says Combet.
