INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS – AUSTRALIA

Kikki.k’s penalty rate secret exposed

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 13-Apr-17

The Fair Work Commission recently approved a new enterprise bargaining agreement for stationery retailer kikki.K. The EBA includes provision for a reduction in Sunday and public holiday penalty rates. However, employees say that they are not paid penalty rates at present, as they are employed as casual staff via labour hire firm Employment Innovations rather than directly by kikki.K. Some employees also say they were not involved in negotiations for the new EBA and only managerial staff were allowed to vote on it.

CORPORATES
KIKKI.K PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, EMPLOYMENT INNOVATIONS PTY LTD, HRO INITIATIVES, EI ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES, TDM ASSET MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, FIRST SUPER PTY LTD, DAVID JONES LIMITED

Retailers start cutting Sunday penalty rates

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 10-Apr-17

The Fair Work Commission recently approved a new workplace agreement for kikki.K employees that includes provision for changes to Sunday and public holiday penalty rates in the retail industrial award. FWC deputy president Geoff Bull conceded that the stationery retailer’s employees could be adversely affected by this clause. However, he found that kikki.K’s commitment to increase employees’ base hourly rates by at least 5.7 per cent more than the award rate for 2015-16 meant the agreement complies with the "better off overall test".

CORPORATES
KIKKI.K PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, RETAIL AND FAST FOOD WORKERS UNION, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP

Sacking over salesman’s ‘crude’ Facebook post unfair

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 10-Apr-17

The Fair Work Commission has directed LED Technologies to pay compensation to a former salesman after it found that he was unfairly dismissed over a Facebook post. LED claimed that the post – which contained offensive language – was in breach of its social media policy which bans using social media at work. In his defence, the salesman had claimed that he was on a break at the time, that he was unaware of the policy, and that the post made no reference to LED.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, LED TECHNOLOGIES PTY LTD, FACEBOOK AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

CFMEU threatens building chaos

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 3-Apr-17

The Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union will refuse to renegotiate existing enterprise bargaining agreements to ensure that they comply with the Federal Government’s new building code. The CFMEU’s stance could result in many large construction groups being banned from gaining federal government contracts. Employment Minister Mich­ael­ia Cash argues that this will prevent CFMEU members from working on government-funded projects, while Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn warns that it will increase the cost of such projects.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, LEND LEASE GROUP LIMITED – ASX LLC, BROOKFIELD MULTIPLEX LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, ACTU

Turnbull and Hanson back penalty pay cut

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Original article by Laura Tingle
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 6-Mar-17

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says the Coalition accepts and supports the Fair Work Commission’s decision to reduce Sunday penalty rates. He also favours reducing penalty rates over a period of time to offset the impact on after-tax pay. One Nation founder Pauline Hanson also says she supports lower penalty rates "in principle". Hanson argues that small food retailers cannot compete with big chains whose employees’ union-negotiated enterprise bargaining agreements do not include penalty rates.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, ONE NATION PARTY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, McDONALD’S AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Abbott: PM must sell penalty rates cut harder

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Original article by Joe Kelly, David Crowe, Ewin Hannan, Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 3-Mar-17

Some Coalition MPs have urged Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to more actively promote the economic benefits of the Fair Work Commission’s decision on Sunday penalty rates. Former prime minister Tony Abbott has also urged Turnbull to place more emphasis on the potential for job creation as a result of the ruling, and says a proposal by Coalition backbencher Eric Abetz to "grandfather" the new penalty rates regime has merit. However, this is opposed by employers’ groups and the Australian Labor Party.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE AUSTRALIAN SMALL BUSINESS AND FAMILY ENTERPRISE OMBUDSMAN, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Shorten pays penalty as IR attack undermined

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 24-Feb-17

The ACTU estimates that employees affected by the Fair Work Commission’s ruling on Sunday penalty rates face a reduction of between $1,800 and $A6,600 in their take-home pay. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has committed to overturning the FWC’s decision, but Employ­ment Minister Michaelia Cash notes that the FWC was given powers to review penalty rates when Shorten was workplace relations minister. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in turn noted that Shorten has previously said he would accept the FWC’s ruling on penalty rates.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, TOURISM ACCOMMODATION AUSTRALIA, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION

Fair Work dysfunction needs fixing

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman, Aaron Patrick
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 24-Jan-17

The Fair Work Commission is under scrutiny following the resignation of vice-president Graeme Watson, who accused it of being "‘partisan, dysfunctional and divided". Australian Mines & Metals Association CEO Steve Knott has called for a review of the FWC, while former prime minister Tony Abbott claims that it is "pro union and anti-jobs". Eight members of the FWC have either resigned or opted for early retirement since 2013.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, ACTU, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION

Growth-sapping GST must face overhaul: miners

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Original article by Sid Maher
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 9-Jan-17

The Minerals Council of Australia has used its submission to the Productivity Commission’s five-year productivity review to urge changes to the system for distributing goods and services tax revenue. The MCA argues that the current system redirects GST revenue from states that have encouraged the development of natural resources to states that place strictures on mining and energy projects. The MCA has also called for a reduction in the corporate tax rate and action to address the power of unions under the Fair Work Act.

CORPORATES
MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. COMMONWEALTH GRANTS COMMISSION, ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT

New whistleblower protections could hit senior CFMEU officials

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 19-Dec-16

Former Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union organisers Andrew Quirk and Brian Miller are continuing to challenge their sacking after revealing in 2014 that the union’s New South Wales branch had links to an underworld figure. They are being represented by lawyer Chris McArdle, who argues that they would have had much greater protection if the Federal Government’s new whistleblower laws had been in place at the time of their dismissal.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, SEYFARTH SHAW LLP