COLLECTIVE LABOR AGREEMENTS – AUSTRALIA

New wage deals push 3pc pay rises

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 2-Aug-19

Data from the Attorney-General’s Department shows that public sector enterprise agreements that were approved in the March quarter included wage increases of 2.4 per cent, while wages growth under private sector agreements was 2.7 per cent. However, the data excludes 29 per cent of new agreements because they featured ‘non-quantifiable’ wage increases. They included enterprise agreements for Woolworths and David Jones employees, which link pay rises to increases in the minimum wage.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, DAVID JONES LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, BUPA AGED CARE, THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE LIMITED. CENTRE FOR FUTURE WORK

Signs that wage rise pick-up is under way

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Original article by Matthew Cranston, David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 10-Jul-19

A number of large Australian companies have struck new enterprise agreements which include pay rises that are higher than the current level of wage growth. Some employers in sectors such as retailing and fast food are seeking to increase wages in line with the latest increase in the minimum wage. Meanwhile, Andrew Hanson of recruitment firm Robert Walters says the outlook for the economy and business conditions during the first half of 2019-20 means that more highly-skilled employees are unlikely to receive a significant pay rise.

CORPORATES
ROBERT WALTERS PTY LTD, McDONALD’S AUSTRALIA LIMITED, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, HUNGRY JACK’S PTY LTD, BIG W DISCOUNT STORES, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SUPER RETAIL GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUL, BWS – BEER WINE SPIRITS, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Kelty: cut the top tax rate

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Original article by Jennifer Hewett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 8 : 8-Jul-19

Former ACTU secretary Bill Kelty warns that Australia’s income tax system will remain uncompetitive unless there is broader reform than the federal government’s tax cuts package. Kelty argues that any reforms to the tax system should be in response to the demands of the future, negating Labor’s view that the stage-three tax cuts should have been put on hold due to uncertainty about the economic outlook in five years’ time, when they are slated to take effect. Kelty also says Australia’s top marginal income tax rate is too high, and changes to the enterprise bargaining system are needed.

CORPORATES
ACTU, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA

IR law too complex to get pay right

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 26-Jun-19

Former Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James says the employee underpayment scandal demonstrates that Australia’s workplace relations system is too complex and needs to be reviewed. She argues that "fundamental misunderstandings" about industrial awards and enterprise agreements are causing workers to be underpaid. Employers’ groups have advocated changes to the procedures for approving enterprise bargaining agreements, amid a blowout in the average number of days the Fair Work Commission takes to approve them and a sharp increase in EBAs that are approved only after employers agree to additional undertakings.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, SUPER RETAIL GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUL, BEAUREPAIRS, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), ACTU, DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE LIMITED. CENTRE FOR FUTURE WORK

Shorten reaches out to miners

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 10 : 16-May-19

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has indicated that Labor may be open to industrial relations reforms that would allow greenfields enterprise agreements to be struck for the life of a resources project rather than having to be renegotiated every 3-4 years. He argues that this would provide greater certainty for workers, unions, employers and global investors. Shorten also intends to hold a national economic summit in early June if Labor wins the federal election; the agenda will include industrial relations, wages, productivity and the economy.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL

ABCC targets building union leadership

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 14 : 10-May-19

The Australian Building & Construction Commission will allege that the construction industry union breached workplace laws in trying to force Botany Cranes to sign an enterprise agreement. The ABCC has launched legal action against four Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union officials, including New South Wales secretary Darren Greenfield. Amongst other things, they are alleged to have threatened to damage the company’s equipment and stage a secondary boycott if it did not sign the agreement.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, BOTANY CRANES, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, BOOM LOGISTICS LIMITED – ASX BOL, WGG CRANE GROUP

Union wants Labor to fix free rider problem

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 : 28-Mar-19

The National Tertiary Education Union’s industrial relations policy identifies several options for addressing the issue of workers who benefit from enterprise agreements without being a union member. They include requiring non-union members to pay a bargaining agents fee. The NTEU has lobbied Labor to put the issue of so-called "free riders" on its industrial relations agenda. Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox says bargaining fees are contrary to the right to freedom of association. Such fees have been banned in Australia since 2003.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL TERTIARY EDUCATION INDUSTRY UNION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, ACTU, MAURICE BLACKBURN PTY LTD

Employer dissatisfaction with bargaining process rising

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 21-Mar-19

The findings of a survey by law firm Ashurst would appear to support a recent claim by Labor leader Bill Shorten that the enterprise bargaining system is ‘broken’. The survey of 160 companies in the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 found that 31 per cent have old enterprise agreements in place, up from 21 per cent in 2017. Likewise, 39 per cent of respondents said it takes 12 months to negotiate a new workplace agreement, compared with 30 per cent previously. Some companies indicated that their enterprise agreement expired more than four years ago.

CORPORATES
ASHURST AUSTRALIA, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Merivale reviewing viability due to EBA determination on wages

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 22-Jan-19

Employees of hospitality group Merivale will be shifted to the industry award after the Fair Work Commission terminated an enterprise agreement that had been struck in 2007. Merivale’s submission to the FWC had warned that some of its business practices may not be viable under the industry award, and that some employees may need to be reclassified as a result of the ruling. About 71 per cent of Merivale’s employees are casuals, who did not receive penalty rates and overtime pay under the enterprise agreement.

CORPORATES
MERIVALE GROUP, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, UNITED VOICE

Private sector wage rises hit two-year high

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 21-Dec-18

The federal government has released data showing that there was an average pay rise of three per cent for new enterprise agreements struck in the private sector during the September quarter. However, the average pay rise for existing private-sector agreements was just 2.7 per cent. The number of private-sector workers who are covered by enterprise agreements fell by 90,000 during the quarter. Meanwhile, the average pay rise for public sector workers was 3.4 per cent in the quarter.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, ACTU