CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY – AUSTRALIA – REGULATION

Return ABCC to save ourselves: business

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 23-Mar-16

Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox will use a National Press Club speech to highlight the importance of reinstating the Australian Building & Construction Commission. He will argue that a proposed construction code is necessary to protect companies from unlawful conduct by unions. Master Builders Australia CEO Wilhelm Harnisch has also expressed concern that at present unions can use threats of industrial action to secure pay rises for the members.

CORPORATES
THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB (AUSTRALIA), AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Triple fine threat looms as watchdog’s reach widens

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Original article by Elizabeth Colman
The Australian – Page: 5 : 22-Mar-16

ACTU secretary Dave Olive says the general public does not support the Federal Government’s push to reinstate the Australian Building & Construction Commission. The ABCC bill, which could be the trigger for a double dissolution election, would result in unions facing fines of up to $A180,000 for every breach of industrial relations laws, compared with just $A54,000 at present. The ABCC will also have the power to regulate non-building unions that are involved in the supply chain for building sites.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, ACTU, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, TRANSPORT WORKERS’ UNION, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, FAIR WORK BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE FAIR WORK BUILDING INDUSTRY INSPECTORATE

PM pulls the trigger

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Original article by David Crowe
The Australian – Page: 1& 4 : 22-Mar-16

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says the Australian Labor Party and the general public are ready for the 2016 federal election. The Government is poised to use a bill to reinstate the Australian Building & Construction Commission as the trigger for a double-dissolution election on 2 July, after requesting that Parliament be recalled on 18 April to debate the bill. The Government will also hand down the Budget one week earlier than scheduled, on 3 May. The last double-dissolution election was in 1987.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL, AUSTRALIA. CLEAN ENERGY FINANCE CORPORATION

100 CFMEU militants in court

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Original article by Elizabeth Colman
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 17-Mar-16

New figures show that the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union, its state branches and union officials have been fined a total of $A6.98m since 2002 for failing to comply with industrial laws. Meanwhile, 100 of the union’s officials and delegates have been charged with more than 1,000 offences in total, including coercion, intimidation and unlawful industrial action. Federal Employment Minister Michaelia Cash has urged Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to support a bill to reinstate the Australian Building & Construction Commission.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, FAIR WORK BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO THE BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE FAIR WORK BUILDING INDUSTRY INSPECTORATE

Building firms running unlawful ‘closed shop’, says watchdog

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 7-Mar-16

The director of Fair Work Building & Construction, Nigel Hadgkiss, has warned that a growing number of Australian employers are engaging in unlawful conduct. Some 18 of the 69 investigations being undertaken by the agency concern the conduct of employers. Hadgkiss notes that employers are frequently forcing subcontractors off building sites if they do not have enterprise agreements with the militant Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union.

CORPORATES
FAIR WORK BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT OF AUSTRALIA, FOREST MEIERS CONSTRUCTION PTY LTD, MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED

‘Vigilante’ building workers face $10,800 fines

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 24-Feb-16

Fair Work Building & Construction (FWBC) intends to prosecute 52 construction workers at the Longford gas processing plant in Gippsland over unlawful industrial action in February 2015. The Australian Workers’ Union argues that the stop-work action was to protest against the dismissal of a probationary employee. The union’s Victorian secretary, Ben Davis, has criticised FWBC director Nigel Hadgkiss for describing the actions of the workers as "vigilantism".

CORPORATES
FAIR WORK BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FOREST MEIERS CONSTRUCTION PTY LTD

Bring back the ABCC: Cole

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Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 6 : 2-Feb-16

Legislation to reinstate the Australian Building & Construction Commission (ABCC) will be a priority for the Federal Government when Parliament resumes on 2 February 2016. Its reinstatement has been supported by Terence Cole, who headed the Royal Commission into the Building & Construction Industry in 2001. He argues that the ABCC’s crackdown on unlawful union conduct had resulted in cost savings of about $3.1bn a year by 2007. The ABCC was abolished by the Australian Labor Party in 2012.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO THE BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA

Bosses want ban on union tactic

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Original article by Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 11-Jan-16

The final report of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption noted that pattern bargaining is a major issue in the construction industry. However, it not recommend a total ban on the practice as it does not seem to be widespread in other industries. Master Builders Australia CEO Wilhelm Harnisch has urged the Federal Government to introduce laws to prohibit pattern bargaining in the building industry, arguing that it increases construction costs and undermines productivity.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO THE BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

CFMEU will be spared delisting by the Turnbull government

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Original article by Troy Bramston
The Australian – Page: Online : 7-Jan-16

The Australian Government has ruled out any move to deregister the militant Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union, which boasts more than 100,000 members. The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption made a number of adverse findings about the union, but did not recommend deregistration due to the impact on members who have not engaged in corrupt activity. Employment Minister Michaelia Cash says the Government’s priority in tackling corruption in the construction industry is to reinstate the Australian Building & Construction Commission.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, ACTU, BUILDERS’ LABOURERS’ FEDERATION, FAIR WORK BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Labor won’t play PM’s ‘game’ on union power

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Original article by Stefanie Balogh, Elizabeth Colman
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 26-Oct-15

Legislation to reinstate the Australian Building and Construction Commission and increase the governance standards of union officials have been blocked by the Senate twice. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has warned that industrial relations will be a focus of the Coalition’s 2016 election campaign unless the Opposition supports its proposed reforms. Meanwhile, the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union intends to review its governance following the trade union royal commission.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, FAMILY FIRST PARTY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, ACTU, MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA