Lifting wages will be a priority for the Albanese government to ease the cost of living. But the unions and the Greens are likely to push for more changes to tackle problems with the Fair Work system.
The buying power of wages shrank a record 2.7% over the year to March, calling into question assurances about the link between low unemployment and high wage growth.
For anyone who assumes someone’s professional past will predict their future behaviour, Geoffrey Giudice’s life of public service is an invitation to think again.
This is an important victory for employees and unions, acknowledging the importance of genuine and meaningful consultation. It’s not a victory for mandate opponents.
Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
Only five of the 56 economists surveyed believed lower immigration would boost wage growth. The rest backed measures to lift productivity and investment and changes that boosted the power of unions.
Uber has been forced by the UK courts to treat its British drivers as workers. It will probably require legislative change for Uber’s Australian drivers to be treated as employees.
On Wednesday, the government will introduce industrial relations legislation allowing businesses affected by COVID to be exempt from the Better Off Overall Test (BOOT) in enterprise agreements.
Legislation governing universities varies from one to the other, often leaving their purpose undefined. But it certainly matters when determining an academic’s duties in an unfair dismissal case.
The failure to anticipate the consequence of workers having no paid sick leave is one of the greatest flaws in Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
A freeze in the minimum wage would make it easier for stressed employers to hang onto their workers says a bare majority of experts surveyed by the Economic Society and The Conversation.