INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS – AUSTRALIA

Fair Work warning over anti-CFMEU retweet

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 18-Jan-19

The Fair Work Commission has rejected an appeal by the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union over a ruling of senior deputy president Jonathan Hamberger. The CFMMEU claimed that Hamberger should have recused himself from a case involving three union officials after he shared a 2016 tweet from Employment Minister Michaelia Cash that attacked the CFMMEU and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. The FWC stated that Hamberger’s sharing of the tweet did not mean he was biased against the union’s officials, but it did state that his actions in sharing the tweet were inappropriate.

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

Labor backs FWC boss over new members

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 16-Jan-19

Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry CEO James Pearson says the Fair Work Commission’s new deputy presidents should be given the same duties as their colleagues, including deciding cases. FWC president Iain Ross recently advised that the five Coalition appointees will initially only handle relatively minor matters such as conciliation work. Shadow employment minister Brendan O’Connor has supported Ross’s stance, but a spokesman for Industrial Relations Minister Kelly O’Dwyer says all FWC members should be involved in duties such as conciliation work.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS

No criminal charges for anyone implicated in leaking information in AWU raids case

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Original article by Matthew Doran
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 15-Jan-19

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions believes that there is little chance of securing any convictions over media leaks regarding raids on the offices of the Australian Workers’ Union in October 2017. An Australian Federal Police spokeswoman says that as there is no prospect of criminal charges, the investigation into the affair will be discontinued. The senior media adviser to former Employment Minister Michaelia Cash resigned over the leak, although Cash herself denied that her office had any knowledge of the leak.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, AUSTRALIA. REGISTERED ORGANISATIONS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS

Fair Work boss sidelines Coalition appointees

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 15-Jan-19

The federal government appointed six new deputy presidents to the Fair Work Commission in late 2018. Such appointees traditionally hear full bench cases, but FWC president Iain Ross has told members of the commission that most of the deputy presidents will only handle relatively minor matters such as conciliation work. The majority of the new appointees have an employer background, which prompted Labor to accuse the government of "stacking" the FWC.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, EXXONMOBIL AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, THE NATIONAL ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS’ ASSOCIATION, NSW BUSINESS CHAMBER LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS LIMITED, CORRS CHAMBERS WESTGARTH

Ports, mine targeted in CFMEU hit

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 15-Jan-19

Hutchison Ports Australia will be subject to industrial action by the militant Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union. Work bans will commence on 17 January, in response to the stevedoring group’s push to reduce pay rates and leave entitlements under a new workplace agreement. Hutchison will apply for an order from the Fair Work Commission requiring the union to give five days’ notice prior to launching the industrial action. Meanwhile, CFMMEU members at the Wongawilli Colliery in New South Wales have voted to extend strike action for a second week.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, HUTCHISON PORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WOLLONGONG COAL LIMITED – ASX WLC, JINDAL STEEL AND POWER LIMITED, CAS MINE SERVICES PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

ABC underpaid 2500 casual staff

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 11-Jan-19

The ABC will undertake a review into how it came to underpay around 2,500 casual employees over the last six years. The public broadcaster’s chief people officer Rebekah Donaldson says it has notified the Fair Work Commission about the issue, and that it is getting in contact with current and former casual employees who might have been affected. The underpayment error was brought to the ABC’s attention by the Community & Public Sector Union; the CPSU’s ABC section secretary Sinddy Ealy says it had been concerned for some time about the ABC’s over-reliance on and payment of casual staff.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC SECTOR UNION, MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS ALLIANCE, ACTU

Unionist gets no joy over sacking

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 5 : 9-Jan-19

The full Federal Court has dismissed an application by former union organiser Nick Belan for a judicial review of the Fair Work Commission’s decision in his unfair dismissal case. The FWC had ruled in 2017 that the National Union of Workers had been justified in sacking Belan after he admitted to the trade union royal commission that he had used a union-issued credit card for personal expenses. Belan had contended that the transcript of his evidence before the royal commission was inadmissible in the FWC case.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL UNION OF WORKERS, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION

Woolies wins on penalty rates deal

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 8-Jan-19

The Fair Work Commission has approved a new four-year enterprise agreement for more than 100,000 employees of supermarkets group Woolworths. Amongst other things, the new pay deal will reinstate full penalty rates and increase casual loadings to 25 per cent. The deal has been welcomed by the Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees’ Association, although the rival Retail & Fast Food Workers Union had opposed some aspects of the new agreement.

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, WOOLWORTHS SUPERMARKETS, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, SHOP, DISTRIBUTIVE AND ALLIED EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION, RETAIL AND FAST FOOD WORKERS UNION INCORPORATED, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, McDONALD’S AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Labor’s boost to union power alarms business

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 19-Dec-18

Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has told Labor’s national conference that the enterprise bargaining system is not working. The national conference has endorsed a new industrial relations policy platform which includes the reinstatement of industry-wide enterprise bargaining. Shorten has also committed to reversing penalty rate cuts and abolishing the Australian Building & Construction Commission and the Registered Organisations Commission if Labor wins the 2019 election. Employer groups have urged Labor to clarify whether pattern bargaining will be restricted to low-paid workers or if it will apply across the economy.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. REGISTERED ORGANISATIONS COMMISSION, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, ACTU, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES

$400m bill for training

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Original article by Rob Harris, Anthony Galloway
Herald Sun – Page: 12 : 14-Dec-18

The federal government has criticised a push for union members to receive paid leave to attend training programs. The resolution will be put to Labor’s upcoming national conference, but the government has warned that it would cost the national economy about $1.3 billion a year and the Victorian economy $358.3 million a year if it applied to all members of a union. However, Labor has stressed that the policy would apply only to elected union delegates. Shadow workplace relations minister Brendan O’Connor argues that union delegates are already permitted to take training leave during working hours at the majority of unionised workplaces.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION