INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS – AUSTRALIA

Westacott pleads for Hawke-era ACTU mindset

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 1-Nov-18

Business Council of Australia CEO Jennifer Westacott has rejected the ACTU’s push for industry-wide enterprise bargaining. She says it is unworkable and would disadvantage people in regional areas and unskilled workers. Westacott argues that the nation needs a modern industrial relations system that is based on enterprise or workplace-level bargaining, and underpinned by a universal safety net. However, she has invited the ACTU’s leadership to work with business to ensure that the IR system is appropriate for a modern work environment.

CORPORATES
BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

AWU misused strike rights for ACTU protests

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 : 31-Oct-18

The Australian Workers’ Union served Alcoa with a notice of indefinite work stoppages at its Western Australia refineries earlier in October. The industrial action was slated to commence the day before the ACTU began a series of national protests. AWU delegate Stuart Allen has told the Fair Work Commission that the timing was "good luck", but it has emerged that he send text messages to union members stating that the protected industrial action was in support of the ACTU campaign. The FWC ruled that the AWU’s representatives were not genuinely trying to collectively bargain.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, ALCOA INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, ACTU

Migrant workers robbed of $1bn

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Original article by Nicola Berkovic
The Australian – Page: 3 : 29-Oct-18

Backpackers and international students are owed more than $1 billion in unpaid wages, according to a study to be released on 29 October. However, only nine per cent of them make an effort to recover their wages. Just three per cent took their case to the Fair Work Commission, but 58 per cent of that group did not recovery any money. The report makes a number of recommendations, including setting up a specific team to assist with migrant workers’ questions and making changes to the Fair Work Ombudsman’s processes

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, SYDNEY

Maximum penalty call over blockade

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Original article by Charlie Peel
The Australian – Page: 2 : 24-Oct-18

The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union faces a fine of up to $33,000 for each break of workplace laws arising from the blockading of Brisbane building sites in 2012. CFMMEU official Michael Ravbar in turn could be fined up to $6,600 for each breach. The Australian Building & Construction Commission has urged the Federal Court to impose the maximum penalty on Ravbar, while it is also seeking to have him banned from entering workplaces.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, UNIVERSAL CRANES PTY LTD

Industrial ‘anarchy’: MP warns

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Original article by Dana McCauley
The Age – Page: 1 : 23-Oct-18

Employer groups estimate that the ACTU’s "Change the Rules" rallies will cost $250 million in lost productivity. Meanwhile, Industrial Relations Minister Kelly O’Dwyer claims that the ACTU is inciting union members to break the law, and that Australia faces a "bleak future" if a Labor government changes industrial relations laws to please the ACTU. The peak union body contends that the rallies should be viewed as political protests rather than industrial action.

CORPORATES
ACTU, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Counting the costs of ACTU’s campaign

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Original article by Samantha Hutchinson
The Australian – Page: 2 : 22-Oct-18

Masters Builders Australia estimates that a six-day campaign of industrial action by unions will have a direct and indirect cost to the national economy of up to $250m. Unions forecast that rallies to be held in Sydney and Melbourne will be attended by up to 150,000 workers in each city, and the Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry warns that this could result in the loss of some 450,000 working hours and 50,000 working days. Rallies will be held in Melbourne, Sydney, Darwin and six regional cities on 23 October, as part of the ACTU’s "Change The Rules" campaign.

CORPORATES
MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD, PATRICK STEVEDORES HOLDINGS PTY LTD

Ex-union boss backs govt on casual pay

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Original article by Dana McCauley, Anna Patty
The Age – Page: 24 : 19-Oct-18

Industrial Relations Minister Kelly O’Dwyer will make an application to join the Commonwealth as a party to a Federal Court test case on the paid leave entitlements of casual workers. The WorkPac case has prompted concern that casual employees would be entitled to both a casual loading and paid leave. The ACTU has warned that the test case presents a risk to the job security of every permanent employee, but the peak union body’s former president Martin Ferguson says that allowing casuals to "double dip" is contrary to long-established industrial relations rules.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, WORKPAC PTY LTD, ACTU, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO

Guthrie turns to Fair Work with complaint against ABC

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Original article by Max Mason, David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 19-Oct-18

The Fair Work Commission has received an adverse action claim against the ABC from Michelle Guthrie following her dismissal as MD in late September. Should the case proceed to the Federal Court, Guthrie could potentially seek unlimited compensation for lost remuneration, given that she was sacked only halfway through her five-year contract. Guthrie could also seek compensation for hurt and suffering. Her annual salary of around $900,000 at the ABC is above the threshold for an unfair dismissal claim.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, MAURICE BLACKBURN PTY LTD, JOHNSON WINTER AND SLATTERY

Fines a reminder of ACTU rally penalties

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 11-Oct-18

The Federal Court has fined 75 construction workers $1,400 apiece for engaging in unlawful industrial action in Perth in 2013. Stephen McBurney, the head of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, says the fines are a "timely reminder" of the consequences of breaching workplace laws. The ABCC recently warned that building workers who participate in upcoming union rallies without written approval from their employee could potentially be prosecuted.

CORPORATES
FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, ACTU, WORKPAC PTY LTD, SAS GROUP, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS

Small business backs flexi worker plan

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 26-Sep-18

The NSW Business Chamber’s proposal to add a new category of "perma-flexi" employees to industry awards has been criticised by ACTU secretary Sally McManus. She says workers would have no certainty regarding their income or hours of work from one week to the next. However, Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell says the proposal has merit, noting that casual workers would be better off financially despite a reduction in their loading from 25 per cent to 10 per cent.

CORPORATES
NSW BUSINESS CHAMBER LIMITED, ACTU, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE AUSTRALIAN SMALL BUSINESS AND FAMILY ENTERPRISE OMBUDSMAN, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA