INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS – AUSTRALIA

Wage growth slumps to a record 25-year low

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 16-Jan-18

Wage increases for new enterprise agreements struck in the September 2017 quarter were just 2.2 per cent, the lowest increase in 25 years. The number of new agreements struck in the quarter was the lowest since 1995, while wage increases in union enterprise agreements were lower than those in non-union agreements, which is uncommon. The construction sector remained the industry where wage growth was strongest, while real estate and transport were among the sectors where wage growth was lowest.

CORPORATES
GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Apprentices ripped off

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Original article by Renee Viellaris
The Courier-Mail – Page: 19 : 12-Jan-18

U to 10,000 apprentices in Queensland may have been underpaid since 2014 because the Fair Work Ombudsman published wage rates that were incorrect. The mistake could result in apprentices receiving wage increases of up to $A150 a week. It could also cost taxpayers up to $A30m, and the Queensland Government is refusing to contribute to its federal counterpart’s compensation package.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

ACTU seeks change to lockout rules

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 9-Jan-18

Australia’s peak union body will push for changes to provisions of the Fair Work Act regarding the right of employers to lock out workers in the wake of an industrial dispute at the Port Kembla coal terminal. ACTU secretary Ged Kearney says the dispute demonstrates that the industrial relations system is "broken" and gives employers too much power. The Port Kembla terminal has imposed a five-day lockout in an ongoing dispute with the militant Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union over enterprise agreement negotiations.

CORPORATES
ACTU, PORT KEMBLA COAL TERMINAL, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, GLENCORE PLC, SOUTH32 LIMITED – ASX S32

Cash fails in bid to have AWU raid subpoenas thrown out

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 21-Dec-17

The Federal Court has ruled that Employment Minister Michaelia Cash must provide the Australian Workers’ Union with access to documents relating to a police raid on its offices in October. The AWU had sought access to communications between Cash’s office and the Registered Organisations Commission, which had authorised the raids as part of its investigation into an AWU donation to activist group GetUp.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, AUSTRALIA. REGISTERED ORGANISATIONS COMMISSION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN

Unions to urge ALP to ease anti-strike rules

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 6 : 8-Dec-17

ACTU secretary Sally McManus has warned that a landmark High Court ruling will make it more difficult for unions to take protected industrial action. The court ruled that lawful industrial action during enterprise bargaining negotiations is not permissible if previous orders of the Fair Work Commission had been breached during the bargaining process. McManus says Australia’s rules on the right to strike are "complex and onerous", and she argues that reforms are needed to make them consistent with the International Labour Organisation’s standards. The ACTU will lobby the Australian Labor Party to pursue changes to the right-to-strike regime.

CORPORATES
ACTU, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, VICTORIAN INTERNATIONAL CONTAINER TERMINAL PTY LTD, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA, VICTORIAN TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, CALTEX AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX CTX

High Court removes strike protections in landmark ruling

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 7-Dec-17

A landmark ruling of the High Court of Australia has major implications for unions regarding negotiations over enterprise bargaining agreements. The court ruled that unions are not permitted to take protected industrial action while EBA negotiations are underway if the union had previously breached an order of the Fair Work Commission regarding that bargaining. The Australian Workers’ Union had argued that unions are only required to comply with current rather than past orders of the FWC. The ruling could potentially result in the AWU being required to pay significant damages to Esso over strike action at the Longford gas plant in Victoria in 2015.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, ESSO AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED)

Epidemic of underpayment

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Original article by Patrick Durkin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 12 : 1-Dec-17

Michael Smith, the chairman of 7-Eleven, says it has been taking active steps to eliminate underpayment of employees within its franchise network. They include biometric clocking- in and centralising its payroll system, and he believes it has done as much as it can to prevent further occurrences of underpayment within 7-Eleven. However, he says it would be wrong that the problem has not gone away within the Australian franchise sector as a whole, and that recent changes to the Franchise Code aimed at protecting workers from being underpaid are not sufficiently robust.

CORPORATES
7-ELEVEN STORES PTY LTD, CALTEX AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX CTX, DOMINO’S PIZZA GROUP PLC, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, PIZZA HUT AUSTRALIA

Shorten ally has unofficial role in HSU

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 14 : 1-Dec-17

The Health Workers Union had sought to seek costs against former official Sel Sanli after he abandoned unfair dismissal proceedings against it. Sanli claimed HWU boss Diana Asmar sacked him because he refused to support the election of her husband David to an important role within Victorian Labor, of which he was a delegate. Sanli abandoned his claim after the HSU released phone records of him talking to escort workers and viewing pornography. However, the Fair Work Commission has dismissed the HWU’s cost claim, while finding that Sanli’s claims about his sacking were justified. It concluded David Asmar had a major influence on the HSU, despite not working for it.

CORPORATES
HEALTH WORKERS UNION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED, HEALTH SERVICES UNION OF AUSTRALIA

Woolworths facing union boycott threat

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 29-Nov-17

The New South Wales branch of the National Union of Workers has called on consumers to boycott Woolworths in the lead-up to Christmas. This follows the supermarket chain’s decision to stand down union delegates in early November over alleged breaches of safety rules. The delegates, who work at its Minchinbury warehouse, were stood down after allegedly telling other workers to take off their protective vests, in protest at the alleged bullying of staff there by a manager. A Woolworths spokesperson says it hopes to conclude an investigation into the matter in the week ending 2 December.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL UNION OF WORKERS, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, UNILEVER AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CARLTON AND UNITED BREWERIES

Business alarm as vote brings on merger of militant super union

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: Online : 28-Nov-17

Members of the Maritime Union of Australia have voted in favour of a merger with the Construction Forestry Mining & Energy Union. It is expected the two unions will ask the Fair Work Commission in January 2018 to approve their alliance, which would create a union with 144,000 members. However, employer groups have indicated they will go to the High Court if necessary in an attempt to block the FWC from approving the merger. Fifty per cent of MUA members took part in the vote, with 87 per cent of votes supporting the merger.

CORPORATES
MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, TEXTILE, CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, MASTER BUILDERS’ ASSOCIATION