An employer touting the "happy work-life balance" and above-award earning opportunities facilitated by its zombie deal has failed to save it from December's drop dead date after a FWC full bench found its incentives are "discretionary" and not incorporated into the agreement.
A major employer alliance supporting a union bid for supported multi-bargaining in the early childhood education and care sector says the FWC needs to bring the Albanese Government to the table as insufficient funding is hampering their ability to boost pay.
The Albanese Government's IR legislation provides "big improvements" in the bargaining framework for low-paid workers, but the benefits of the multi-employer provisions might be more limited, according to a leading workplace law expert.
A prominent IR academic has told today's jobs summit that the optimism that attended the Fair Work Act's introduction in 2009 was "misplaced", with workers in the years since unable to effectively exercise power when bargaining.
The nexus between low unemployment and rising wages is broken, with the "hydraulic pressure" of a tight labour market undermined by systemic "leaks" and "loopholes", according to workplace relations minister Tony Burke.
The Albanese Government did not take a policy favouring industry or sectoral bargaining to the May 21 election, but it has expressed support for New Zealand's model during official discussions this month at the International Labour Organisation.
Agreement approvals have almost halved in the space of about a decade, according to the latest three-yearly FWC general manager's reports, while almost 60% of the 12,300 endorsed in the most recent reporting period contained undertakings.
Bargained pay rises in the private sector have gone backwards for the second quarter in a row, according to newly-released data from the Attorney-General's Department.
Global resources giant Rio Tinto, after its recent rapprochement with unions, is "the largest and most comprehensive example" of why it makes sense to bargain with employees' representatives, according to mining union leader Tony Maher.
The Fair Work Commission is missing its internal deadlines for approving enterprise agreements as it copes with an increasing number of complex deals that might need undertakings.
