INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS – AUSTRALIA

Wage theft: Labor takes on employers

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 15-May-19

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will use a speech in Perth on 15 May to announce that Labor will establish a small claims tribunal for people with unpaid wages if it wins the federal election. The tribunal, which will hear claims of up to $100,000, will be able to make and enforce orders to pay wages and to mediate claims. The tribunal will operate alongside the existing Fair Work Commission. Shorten will also use the speech to criticise the Coalition’s preferences deal with Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, UNITED AUSTRALIA PARTY, ONE NATION PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

ACTU leader to channel Hawke in Fair Work wage pitch

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 14-May-19

Michele O’Neil will become the first ACTU president since Bob Hawke to personally present the union movement’s case for a rise in the minimum wage. O’Neill will appear before the Fair Work Commission’s wage review panel on 15 May; the ACTU is seeking a six per cent increase in the minimum wage, followed by a 5.5 per cent rise in 2020. Meanwhile, Labor has advised the FWC that it will withdraw its current submission to the wage review if it wins the federal election, and will make a new one that will call for a "real wage increase to award rates".

CORPORATES
ACTU, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

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

Kelty in accord with $10bn childcare vow

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 6 : 9-May-19

Labor’s proposal to provide child care workers with a taxpayer-funded wage increase is supported by former ACTU secretary Bill Kelty. He argues that child care workers are "grossly underpaid", and the cost of the policy will not have a significant impact on wages across the economy. Kelty has also downplayed concerns that the policy would prompt employees in other sectors to seek a similar wage subsidy.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ACTU

Labor weighs boosting union powers

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 7-May-19

Shadow workplace relations minister Brendan O’Connor has indicated that unions’ right to entry laws could be relaxed if Labor wins the federal election. The reforms could include recommendations made in the Boland review of workplace safety laws; amongst other things, the review proposed waiving the need for a union official to have a workplace entry permit if the visit is related to industrial safety. This would benefit the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union; some of its officials have been denied entry permits under the Fair Work Act’s ‘fit and proper person’ test.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, ACTU, HERBERT SMITH FREEHILLS PTY LTD, MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, SAFE WORK AUSTRALIA

Labor’s penalty rates a triple hit for retailers

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 29-Apr-19

Labor will seek to reverse cuts to Sunday penalty rates within 100 days if it wins the federal election. The Australian Retailers Association has estimated that this would see wages rise by as much as 21 per cent for weekend workers. Cuts to Sunday and public holiday penalty rates are being phased in over four years by the Fair Work Commission to ease the impact on employees, but shadow Employment Minister Brendan O’Connor says it will reverse the cuts "in a single hit". Employers’ groups have called for greater consultation over Labor’s plans, while employment law professor Andrew Stewart has cautioned Labor about trying to rush legislation on the issue.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP

Workplace hitch to PM growth pitch

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Original article by Andrew Tillett, Matthew Cranston, John Kehoe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 24-Apr-19

Council of Small Business Organisations CEO Peter Strong says industrial relations reform will be essential if the federal government is to achieve its goal of creating 250,000 new small businesses over the next five years. Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry CEO James Pearson says that in addition to workplace reforms, the government must invest in training and take action to reduce power prices. The Institute of Public Affairs adds that action to reduce the red tape burden is also necessary.

CORPORATES
COUNCIL OF SMALL BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS LIMITED, QUANTUM BUSINESS FINANCE PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Room for unions to work with super funds: Combet

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 18-Apr-19

Industry Super Australia chairman Greg Combet says he has no concerns with union officials raising industrial relations issues with trustees of superannuation funds. However, he stresses that trustees must be mindful of their duty to act in the best interest of fund members when considering such issues. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority recent advised that trustees must not be influenced by "sponsoring organisations" in carrying out their duties. Combet has previously been ACTU secretary and a Labor minister.

CORPORATES
INDUSTRY SUPER AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, IFM INVESTORS PTY LTD, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED – ASX BSL, AUSTRALIANSUPER PTY LTD, GLENCORE PLC

CFMEU charges in three states

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 10-Apr-19

The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union is currently the subject of 38 separate court cases launched by the Australian Building & Construction Commission. The militant union has already been fined some $3.29m so far in the 2018-19 financial year. The ABCC’s current cases against the CFMMEU include allegations that it engaged in unlawful industrial action and breached right-of-entry laws at a building site in Victoria. A union official is also alleged to have racially abused a construction site supervisor in Perth. Labor intends to abolish the ABCC if it wins the federal election.

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

Minimum wage is living wage by UK standard

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Original article by David A Harvey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 5-Apr-19

The federal government has used its submission to the Fair Work Commission to argue that the minimum wage is now about 61 per cent of the median wage when the earnings of both full-time and part-time employees are taken into account. This is the benchmark used in the UK to determine that country’s living wage. In contrast, the ACTU wants a living wage to be based on the median earnings of full-time workers. The ACTU is seeking a six per cent increase in the minimum wage in 2018 and a further rise of 5.5 per cent in 2020.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, GREAT BRITAIN. LOW PAY COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT