The MBA in South Australia has withdrawn from the latest bargaining round in the state's construction industry, saying employers could not afford the CFMEU (construction division)'s claim of 20% over three years plus hefty increases to superannuation and redundancy.
Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith will proceed with his interim taxpayer-funded employee entitlement safety net scheme for the next three years whether the states cooperate or not, after he rejected an alternative proposal for an insurance scheme as "costly, impractical and ineffective".
Average weekly ordinary time earnings have accelerated steeply in the February quarter, with trend growth at 1.1%, according to preliminary data from the ABS.
In another attempted use of the WR Act's freedom of association provisions by a union against an employer, the CFMEU (mining & energy division) is claiming BHP acted unlawfully when it withdrew a job offer to a redundant worker after he refused to hand back his termination payout.
The NSW IRC has refused to intervene in a telecommunications company's decision to make more than a quarter of its employees redundant and contract out their work
The CFMEU won't yet be able to enjoy the fruits of its s204 coverage win in the civil construction sector, after the IRC stayed Senior Deputy President Simon Williams' January ruling.
Private sector enterprise bargaining wage increases have grown to 3.7% a year in the first quarter of 2000, the highest in five quarters, but wage pressure from the GST is yet to emerge, according to a forecast by HSBC Markets.
