Sydney train strikes: NSW government and rail unions to seek conciliation next week

The union is seeking a 3.5% annual wage rise, with an additional cost-of-living supplement

The New South Wales government and rail unions will seek to resolve a long-running dispute by conciliation before the Fair Work Commission next week.

The commission’s deputy president, Bryce Cross, had initially rejected a bid by Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink applying to enter conciliation during a hearing on Friday.

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Federal Icac legislation to be introduced to parliament next week – as it happened

Gallagher says Labor has not changed position on tax cuts

And on the stage three tax cuts, Katy Gallagher echoed the line the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, started last week and continued yesterday – which is effectively Labor playing dead on the $243bn cuts:

I have been asked this a number of times. You know, we haven’t changed our view on stage three. They don’t come in until 2024.

My sole focus at the moment is putting a budget together for October and what we can do in the short-term to relieve pressure on families. That is what I’m focused on everyday.

Well, the budget we inherited was heaving with a trillion dollars of Liberal party debt. We got deficits as far as the eye can see.

We got some programs that weren’t funded in an ongoing sense that clearly are programs that need ongoing funding.

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Federal government seeks to change law that has become central to Sydney train strike dispute

NSW government had threatened to terminate existing enterprise agreement with rail workers over ongoing industrial action

The federal government has put the Fair Work Commission on notice that it plans to restrict the power of employers to terminate enterprise agreements, something the state Coalition in New South Wales this week threatened to do in its ongoing dispute with rail workers.

After months of bargaining and Sydney train strikes, the NSW government announced on Thursday it would seek to terminate its existing agreement covering thousands of rail workers in the state if the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) failed to cease industrial action.

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Close of business: NSW government gives rail union deadline to end industrial action

Government to seek termination of enterprise agreement unless further action is ruled out before weekend

The New South Wales government will seek to terminate the enterprise agreement of thousands of rail workers and scrap a deal to modify a multi-billion dollar fleet of trains unless the union agrees to end all industrial action by 5pm Friday.

In a dramatic step that could set the stage for a prolonged court battle, the government wrote to the head of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU), Alex Claassens, and threatened to file an application with the Fair Work Commission to terminate the agreement.

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Labor pledges ‘immediate’ workplace changes at jobs summit – as it happened

The first day of the jobs and skills summit is under way in Canberra. This blog is now closed

Every Australian ‘holds a stake’ in outcome of jobs and skills summit, PM says

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, finishes his opening address at the jobs and skills summit on a note of wanting to promote unity. He says:

Australians have conflict fatigue.

Every Australian holds a stake in the outcome of our discussion.

The work of building a stronger economy should include everyone, should lift everyone up.

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Big business and unions reveal shared policies on three big ticket items ahead of jobs summit

Business Council and ACTU agree on need to boost paid parental leave, reform migration skills lists and set up an authority to support the clean energy transition

Big business and unions have agreed on three big ticket items ahead of the jobs and skills summit, including a boost to paid parental leave.

The Business Council of Australia and Australian Council of Trade Unions released their shared policies on Thursday, which include the need to extend paid parental leave, reform migration skills lists and set up an authority to support the clean energy transition.

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Sydney train strikes: Dominic Perrottet bets the house on a public relations war

The NSW government is hoping that frustrations over disruptions will turn sentiment against the rail union

Dominic Perrottet’s 11th-hour decision to press the nuclear button in the long-running dispute with rail workers is a high-risk gambit. The New South Wales premier has bet the house on his ability to win a public relations war against the union.

For months, the state government has insisted that rail strikes that have crippled Sydney’s transport network are “politically motivated”.

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Sydney train strike: NSW premier says ‘this ends today’ as he threatens to tear up industrial agreement

Dominic Perrottet says he will meet the rail union in court if workers reject government’s final offer

The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, has issued a sensational ultimatum to the state’s rail workers, vowing to tear up their industrial agreement and meet the union in court unless they accept his government’s final pay offer.

Amid the latest round of chaos on the state’s rail lines on Wednesday, a visibly angry Perrottet said that after 58 meetings he would no longer bargain with the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) over a new enterprise agreement.

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Sydney braces for train and bus strike tomorrow as unions meet with NSW transport minister

Combined rail unions say industrial action would be halted until end of September if government agrees to pay rise

As Sydneysiders brace for yet another day of disruptions on the train network on Wednesday, the heads of the state’s rail unions will be locked away with the New South Wales transport minister, David Elliott, in a bid to finally end a months-long industrial standoff.

The meeting – held amid another round of industrial action by the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) – marks the latest flashpoint in a protracted battle between a government beset by industrial strife and a union movement increasingly determined to flex its muscle.

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Increasing paid parental leave to 52 weeks would give billion-dollar boost to economy, unions say

In the lead-up to Labor’s jobs and skills summit, unions have also called for payments to match actual wages and the inclusion of superannuation

Unions have called for a massive expansion of paid parental leave by extending it to 52 weeks, paying parents their actual wage and including superannuation.

A report released by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) on Monday night has suggested halving the gap in women’s pay and participation would boost the economy by $111bn.

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Australia news live updates: Albanese says government will ‘stand by’ stage three tax cuts at press club speech

The PM says his government made the decision in 2019 ‘that we would stand by that legislation rather than re-litigate it’. Follow all the day’s news

Pocock pushes for scrapping of stage-three tax cuts

Independent senator David Pocock was on RN speaking about the stage-three tax cuts, which he says should be “resisted” – no matter what was promised before the election.

What I’ve said is that they should be revisited … [Anthony Albanese] has a really strong case to relook at these these tax cuts and see what what else that could actually be spent on, given the you know the huge amount of money that they represent.

Things have changed a lot since these were where they decided. We’ve had bushfires, a global pandemic. We’ve had flooding and stagnant wages, and now people are in a cost-of-living crisis across the country. And so I just don’t think that we can justify handing out $240bn over the next 10 years to the wealthiest Australians.

Ultimately, when we hit the budget in October – which is where these issues get reviewed every year – when you look at the budget, there will be things that we want to do that we can’t do. And that’s the reality of a trillion dollars of Liberal debt, particularly as inflation goes up. That debt now costs a lot more than it costs even a year ago.

So there will be things that that we would want to do that people would like us to do that aren’t going to be possible as an example. It’s basically saying, ‘Yeah, this is just too too expensive.’

We’re only in the second month of that new system. A lot of it was designed before we came to office and the contracts had all been signed before we came into office. So I’m still very mindful of what we can do. But the the challenges of the people who are in the system right now are exactly as you’ve described.

I think to live on $46 a day is incredibly difficult if not impossible.

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Australia’s jobs and skills summit: who’s going and what’s on the agenda?

Labor hopes together business, unions and the community sector will be able to find ways to lift wages, spur productivity and ease skills shortages

Lifting wages, productivity and easing skills shortages are top of the agenda at Thursday and Friday’s jobs and skills summit.

Here’s everything you need to know about the event.

Maintaining full employment and growing productivity

Equal opportunities and pay for women

Sustainable wage growth and the future of bargaining

Mega-trends driving our current and future skills needs

Workforce opportunities from clean energy and tackling climate change

Skills and training

Migration

Workforce participation

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Business lobby joins unions in calling for lift in minimum wages for skilled visa workers

Business Council of Australia also calls for migrant intake boost as Greens set up Senate standoff to raise wages in female-dominated industries

Big business has agreed with unions that the pay floor for temporary skilled visa workers should be raised to $90,000,in a split with smaller employer organisations that warned this could “kill” migration.

The Business Council of Australia (BCA) has also called for a two-year boost to the annual migration intake to 220,000 a year in a submission ahead of next week’s jobs and skills summit.

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Australia news live updates: Greens accuse government of undoing its own climate legislation

Adam Bandt reacts to Labor’s decision to open 46,000km of ocean to exploration, saying his party will continue to advocate for a moratorium on new coal and gas projects. Follow live

A massive haul of the drug “ice”, with an estimated street value of $1.6bn, has been seized in NSW in the largest discovery of its kind in Australia, AAP reports.

Last month, Australian Border Force officers homed in on a number of sea cargo containers that arrived at Port Botany in Sydney.

There would need a change to the law.. with the Liberals saying they’ll take an oppositional role, the only way that will happen is with the support of the Greens.

Our position is that workers should be able to bargain collectively at whatever level they choose.

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Fight over CFMEU’s ability to preselect candidates threatens to split NSW Labor left

Attempt to stop union from voting has prompted the soft left to threaten to divide the faction

An ugly preselection brawl within the New South Wales Labor left has threatened to split the faction ahead of the next state election, amid accusations of “rorts”, legal threats and ongoing criminal charges over allegations of union officials accepting bribes.

At the centre of the intra-factional fight is a bid by the hard left to block the powerful CFMEU and its allies from installing the prominent barrister Cameron Murphy into a winnable spot on the party’s upper house ticket ahead of the March election.

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‘Free riders’: NSW unions want to charge non-members for pay rises they broker

Exclusive: Peak body also wants employers to pay skilled visa applicants 30% above median wage to encourage local training instead

Non-union workers would be forced to pay fees for union pay deals while the requirement to advertise jobs domestically, before sponsoring foreign workers, would be abolished in favour of a higher wage floor, under two proposals by Unions NSW.

Under the plan employers could be forced to pay a skilled visa applicant 30% above the industry median wage before sponsoring an offshore worker, a move designed to incentivise training Australians.

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Unions and employers agree 40,000 more migrants a year needed to fill Australia’s skills shortage

Consensus on migration and increasing subsidies for apprentices could pave way for policy reform at government’s jobs and skills summit

Unions and employers have agreed Australia should lift its migration intake by 40,000 annually to help fill skills shortages and demanded a boost to apprentice subsidies.

The consensus suggests the Albanese government could secure broad support for some policy reform at its jobs and skills summit in September, although the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Acci) will use a major speech on Wednesday to reject more ambitious union requests.

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Union launches court case seeking up to $250m from McDonald’s Australia for alleged unpaid wages

Fast-food giant denied staff their rest break entitlements, the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association alleges

The union representing more than 250,000 former and current McDonald’s workers has slapped the fast-food giant with a major federal court action, seeking compensation of up to $250m for alleged unpaid wages.

The move is the 16th federal court action lodged against McDonald’s by the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA).

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Aged care reform first bill to pass lower house under Albanese government

Legislation enacting royal commission’s recommendations for sector expected to pass parliament despite opposition’s accusation of ‘playing politics’

The aged care sector has urged the new federal parliament to quickly pass delayed legislation enacting key recommendations of the royal commission, saying residents “can’t afford to wait any longer” for reforms around new funding, governance and conduct of staff.

A bill legislating the royal commission’s recommendations was the first to pass the House of Representatives and expected to easily and rapidly pass through the parliament. The Labor government is also calling on the Coalition opposition to back some of its central election promises, including mandating nurses in aged care facilities on a 24/7 basis.

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Unions warn Tony Burke against potential debate on the better-off-overall test

Workplace relations minister opens door to considering industrial relations changes as he announces gutting of building watchdog

Workplace relations minister Tony Burke has confirmed the current better-off-overall test that ensures workers do not go backwards will be on the table for discussion at the Albanese government’s jobs summit in September.

Burke said on Sunday he had been “sceptical” about having a conversation with employers and unions about the test, known as the Boot, at the September summit because he wanted Australian workers to have higher wages and conditions. The minister told the ABC he would “take some convincing” to overhaul the test.

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