INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS – AUSTRALIA

Coalition told to boost Fair Work posts

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 4-Jul-18

The Australian Mines & Metals Association has warned that the Fair Work Commission is under-resourced. AMMA CEO Steve Knott says the Federal Government should appoint up to seven additional FWC members in order to address its heavy workload. He notes that the FWC currently has 39 commissioners, compared with 46 when Labor was last in office in 2013. Knott also supports the Productivity Commission’s recommendation to limit FWC members’ terms to 10 years.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS

KPMG review into bungled census ‘compromised’, says whistleblower

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman, Edmund Tadros
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 29-Jun-18

Harmers Workplace Lawyers is taking legal action against KPMG and three of its senior executives on behalf of former associate director James Eldridge. KPMG has been accused of taking adverse action against Eldridge; he was dismissed as a result of complaints he made about KPMG’s review of the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ IT systems following the flawed 2016 census. Eldridge is said to have told KPMG that he felt that the review was not accurate or independent. KPMG has denied his allegations, and has stated that his dismissal was for "appropriate reasons".

CORPORATES
KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, HARMERS WORKPLACE LAWYERS, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Caltex franchisee fined over false pay records

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Original article by Anna Patty
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 24 : 28-Jun-18

The Federal Circuit Court has ordered former Caltex petrol station franchise operator Aulion to pay fines totalling $A80,190 for falsifying its employees’ wage records. The franchise’s owner Peter Dagher in turn has been fined $A16,038. The service station at Five Docks in Sydney is one of 15 that were investigated by the Fair Work Ombudsman over concerns about wage exploitation. The penalties for non-compliance have been significantly increased since 2016, when the breaches in question occurred.

CORPORATES
CALTEX AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX CTX, AULION PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Bid to sideline CFMEU falls at a legal hurdle

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 27-Jun-18

The Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union has successfully challenged the use of a greenfields enterprise agreement by a CIMIC Group subsidiary. CPB, which was formerly known as Leighton, had struck a pay deal with the Australian Workers’ Union that sidelined the CFMEU. However, the full bench of the Fair Work Commission upheld the CFMEU’s appeal. The union’s Victorian president Ralph Edwards says CPB had attempted to misuse the greenfields provisions of the Fair Work Act to avoid renegotiating an existing enterprise agreement.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, CIMIC GROUP LIMITED – ASX CIM, CPB, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

FWO loses bid to impose record fine against MUA

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 22-Jun-18

The Federal Court has ordered the Maritime Union of Australia to pay a $A38,000 fine over strike action at Hutchison Ports’ container terminals in 2015. The Fair Work Ombudsman had sought fines of up to $A3.5m over the unlawful industrial action, arguing that each work stoppage should have been treated as a separate breach of the Fair Work Act. Justice Jayne Jagot ruled that the strike comprised a single course of action and rejected the FWO’s push for Hutchison to be awarded more than $A620,000 in damages.

CORPORATES
MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, HUTCHISON PORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

CFMMEU penalties hit $15m after abuse case

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 15-Jun-18

The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union has been fined $A43,200 over the conduct of organiser Bradley Upton. The Federal Court ruled that Upton had sought to intimidate non-union workers on the Gorgon LNG project into joining the union at a meeting in December 2015. Justice Michael Barker said his conduct was "quite appalling" and fined him $A8,100. Workplace Minister Craig Laundy has warned that such conduct in the workplace will occur frequently under Labor’s proposed union right-of-entry laws.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION

ACTU steps up campaign on penalty rates

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Original article by David Crowe
The Age – Page: 4 : 13-Jun-18

Polling undertaken on behalf of the ACTU show that a majority of voters in the marginal federal seats of Forde, Gilmore and Robertson would support a push to overturn the Fair Work Commission’s penalty rate cuts. The ACTU will launch a new campaign ahead of changes to the weekend penalty rates regime that take effect on 1 July and the five by-elections that will be held on 28 July. Employers argue that lower penalty rates allow them to trade on weekends.

CORPORATES
ACTU, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, GETUP LIMITED, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, REACHTEL PTY LTD

Business must lead push for IR change: Hendy

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 8-Jun-18

The Federal Government’s failure to pursue workplace reforms has been criticised by Peter Hendy, the former chief economic adviser to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. The ex-Liberal MP notes the Coalition’s lack of action since it commissioned the Productivity Commission to undertake a review of the industrial relations regime after it won office in 2013. Hendy adds that the business community should be more active in promoting industrial relations reform, after failing to do so in recent years.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Taxpayers slugged for failed union action

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 5 : 6-Jun-18

The Australian Building & Construction Commission has spent more than $A44,000 in a failed bid to overturn a court’s decision to dismiss a case against the militant Construction, Forestry, Maritime & Mining Energy Union. The ABCC’s legal costs in the original case had exceeded $A666,000. The case had concerned a blockade at a construction site in Canberra, with the ABCC contending that the industrial action was aimed at forcing the builder to sign an enterprise agreement.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, AUSTRALIA. REGISTERED ORGANISATIONS COMMISSION

Union’s Eureka flag victory flies in the face of regulator

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 6 : 5-Jun-18

The Fair Work Commission has ruled that displaying union logos or the Eureka flag on construction sites does not breach the building industry code. Commissioner Bernie Riordan ruled that workers would not get the impression that membership of the construction industry union is compulsory. The Australian Building & Construction Commission warned earlier in 2018 that construction firms could face bans if employees displayed the Eureka flag. ACTU secretary Sally McManus has welcomed the FWC’s ruling and called for the ABCC to be abolished.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, ACTU, WATPAC LIMITED – ASX WTP, PROBUILD PTY LTD, ELECTRICAL TRADES UNION