Today
Budget relief comes on top of ‘decent’ wage rise: Chalmers
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has fought back against an employer push to use the budget’s cost-of-living relief to lower this year’s minimum wage increase.
This Month
Bosses say budget assistance justifies smaller minimum wage increase
Employers have invoked former union chief Bill Kelty to back a moderate pay rise, saying budget relief ensures low-paid workers’ disposable income will rise.
Company has rare win over work bans that jacked up its power bill
Agribusiness giant Manildra has won orders to stop Endeavour Energy workers’ long-running industrial action after arguing it would cost millions of dollars in extra electricity costs.
- Updated
Westpac brings back time sheets for salaried staff up to $140k
Time recording for high-earners is becoming the new norm in the finance sector as firms guard against underpayments from excessive overtime. But some white-collar workers “hate it”.
CFMEU blockade ‘drives up costs’ on state project
An allegedly illegal CFMEU blockade has cost a Queensland infrastructure project $300,000 and will cause weeks of delays, according to the principal contractor.
The union movement is about to break into Aldi
Aldi’s long history of non-union pay deals has been disrupted as workers reject the supermarket giant’s offer for the first time in decades.
Unions to ramp up pay claims despite inflation slowdown
Unions want to make up for “lost ground” after years of cost-of-living pressure, despite Treasury forecasts that inflation could fall beneath 3 per cent by Christmas.
- Updated
Real wages forecast to grow by 0.5pc a year
Workers will enjoy substantial real wage growth for three years, according to Treasury, even as pay and inflation forecasts clash with the Reserve Bank.
Aged care providers back delaying pay rises
Aged care employers have supported the government’s proposal to phase-in aged care pay rises, clashing with unions who are demanding the full rise by July 1.
CFMEU in ‘open defiance’ of the law: judges
Federal Court judges said the CFMEU “simply regards itself as free to disobey the law” and 25 years of fines have done nothing to stop it.
Behind the PM’s $3b ‘bailout’ of Victoria’s most expensive road
Experts blame a $10 billion blowout for the North East Link on CFMEU disruptions, a failed tender process and crazy design decisions to pander to community groups.
- Exclusive
- Wage scandal
Accenture warned of ‘$40m back-pay risk’ for overtime
A former human resources executive claims she warned Accenture’s board it was at risk of having to pay up to $40 million to staff who worked excessive hours.
Watchdog investigates CFMEU conduct at major Brisbane project sites
The Fair Work Ombudsman is making “active inquiries” into claims the CFMEU jumped fences and allegedly intimidated workers at major Queensland infrastructure sites.
Case shows how right to disconnect law could ‘bleed into compo claims’
A tribunal has invoked Labor’s upcoming right to disconnect laws in finding that an employer’s contact of a staffer during sick leave was not reasonable.
‘Ignore him at your peril’: The man who runs Queensland
The emergence of Gary “Blocker” Bullock as Labor’s most influential unionist is a story of the rise of the left and the decline of the once-mighty AWU.
- Exclusive
- Tax avoidance
Tax office moves on administrators in ‘$180m tax fraud’
The administrators of a formwork company involved in what could be the country’s biggest tax fraud are facing court action for reducing an $11 million payroll tax debt to just $1.
Man arrested in Sydney’s west over clubs data breach
Disgruntled software developers who claim not to have been paid are being blamed for releasing details of more than 1 million pub and club patrons in NSW.
- Updated
Police move to take down website with Clubs NSW data
Cybercrime detectives are urgently working to have a site involved in a major data breach taken offline; Union warns data breach points to perils of offshoring IT jobs. How the day unfolded.
Court intervenes as workers clash during CFMEU strike
The builder of Queensland’s biggest infrastructure project has won urgent orders to stop the union’s alleged unlawful behaviour after footage emerged of brawls and punch-ups between construction workers.
April
Review targets workplace watchdog’s stomach for construction fights
Details about a KPMG review into the Fair Work Ombudsman comes as the CFMEU strikes on a key Qld government project, and warns of potential political fallout.