INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS – AUSTRALIA

Fears 7-Eleven workers could be left in cold

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Original article by Anna Patty
The Age – Page: 21 : 23-Jun-16

A 7-Eleven store in Brisbane has been ordered to pay a penalty of more than $A400,000 for worker exploitation. An investigation by the Fair Work Ombudsman revealed that 12 employees were underpaid more than $A82,000. Maurice Blackburn’s Brisbane employment principal Giri Sivaraman has warned that the owner of the store could opt for bankruptcy, depriving the affected workers of their compensation.

CORPORATES
7-ELEVEN STORES PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, MAURICE BLACKBURN PTY LTD

Record fine for 7-Eleven exploitation

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Original article by Anna Patty
The Age – Page: 2 : 22-Jun-16

The Federal Circuit Court has ordered a 7-Eleven franchisee to pay $A408,348 in penalties for underpaying staff. The court has found that the Brisbane store’s owner had underpaid 12 employees more than $A82,000 and had falsified the store’s payroll records. Judge Michael Jarrett said the franchisee had displayed "contemptuous disregard" for workplace laws. He was ordered to pay the outstanding wages, although the employees are still owed about $A35,000.

CORPORATES
7-ELEVEN STORES PTY LTD, FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN

Undue payments under scrutiny

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Original article by Grace Collier
The Weekend Australian – Page: 22 : 11-Jun-16

Wesfarmers CEO Richard Goyder has criticised the Australian Labor Party for opposing plans to reduce the company tax rate. However, many of Wesfarmers employees are covered by the Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees’ Association’s enterprise bargaining agreement. The SDA in turn contributes more to Labor’s coffers than any other union. While Labor is widely seen as being "anti-big business", it in fact ultimately receives much of its funding from the large end of town. Furthermore, a lot of this funding is sourced from what the trade union royal commission labelled "corrupting payments".

CORPORATES
WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, SHOP, DISTRIBUTIVE AND ALLIED EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, TARGET AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED, ACTU, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT

Reform FWC for actual fairness

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Original article by Steve Knott
The Australian – Page: 12 : 10-Jun-16

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s abrupt change in stance regarding the Fair Work Commission’s review of weekend penalty rates was not unexpected. FWC president Iain Ross – a former ACTU official – was appointed by Shorten in 2012, when he was the nation’s industrial relations minister. Indeed, 18 of the 27 appointments to the "independent" FWC made by the Australian Labor Party between 2007 and 2013 were affiliated with Labor or were previously in the union movement. Meanwhile, a survey has found that 87 per cent of employers in the resources sector support a review of the FWC.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED)

Shoppies wedge Shorten on penalties

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Original article by Elizabeth Colman, Jared Owens
The Australian – Page: 8 : 3-Jun-16

The Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees’ Association has attracted criticism after its enterprise agreement with Coles was struck down by the Fair Work Commission. Council of Small Business of Australia CEO Peter Strong has accused the union of hypocrisy for using its website to continue campaigning against lower penalty rates. The enterprise agreement excluded penalty rates for some workers. A spokesman for Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says the FWC should not have approved the agreement in the first place.

CORPORATES
SHOP, DISTRIBUTIVE AND ALLIED EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, COUNCIL OF SMALL BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, 7-ELEVEN STORES PTY LTD, ACTU, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, NATIONAL TERTIARY EDUCATION INDUSTRY UNION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT

CFMEU’s 18 per cent pay grab

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Original article by Ewin Hannan, Patrick Hatch
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 2 : 26-May-16

Victorian members of the militant Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union have approved a new enterprise agreement for construction workers. It includes an annual wage rise of five per cent for the next three years and a three per cent pay rise the following year. John Setka, the state secretary of the CFMEU’s building division, said members should lock in the pay deal in case the Coalition wins the federal election and makes another attempt to reinstate the Australian Building & Construction Commission.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, THE MASTER BUILDERS ASSOCIATION OF VICTORIA, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, BROOKFIELD MULTIPLEX LIMITED, PROBUILD PTY LTD, HICKORY GROUP PTY LTD, LU SIMON PTY LTD, BUILT PTY LTD

Macca’s workers underpaid by millions

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Original article by Ben Schneiders, Nick Toscano, Royce Millar
The Age – Page: 1 : 20-May-16

Fast-food group McDonald’s is the latest Australian company to be embroiled in a wages scandal. An investigation has revealed that many McDonald’s staff are on wages that are below the award rate when penalty rates are taken into account, due to an enterprise agreement that the Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees’ Association negotiated in 2013. Penalty rates for working on weekends are excluded from the agreement.

CORPORATES
McDONALD’S AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SHOP, DISTRIBUTIVE AND ALLIED EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION, 7-ELEVEN STORES PTY LTD, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, NATIONAL TERTIARY EDUCATION INDUSTRY UNION, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

Unions break ranks in fight to maintain penalty rates

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 20-May-16

Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Luke Hilakari favours adding penalty rates to the National Employment Standards if the Fair Work Commission reduces weekend rates. The Australian Greens have proposed legislation to protect penalty rates if they are cut by the FWC, although this is opposed by both the Federal Opposition and the ACTU. Employment Minister Michaelia Cash has stressed that governments should not intervene on penalty rates.

CORPORATES
VICTORIAN TRADES HALL COUNCIL, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ACTU, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, ELECTRICAL TRADES UNION

SDA canvasses penalty cut

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 18-May-16

The Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees’ Association does not support a push to reduce penalty rates for working on weekends. However, its submission to the Fair Work Commission’s review of weekend penalty rates proposes that workers be given the right to refuse to work on Sundays if the FWC rules that Sunday penalty rates should be reduced to the level that applies for working on Saturdays.

CORPORATES
SHOP, DISTRIBUTIVE AND ALLIED EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, TRANSPORT WORKERS’ UNION, AUSTRALIA. ROAD SAFETY REMUNERATION TRIBUNAL

Greens canned for failure to take fight to IR umpire

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Original article by Sid Maher, Mark Coultan
The Australian – Page: 6 : 18-May-16

Australian Greens MP Adam Bandt has defended the party after revelations that it did not make a submission to the Fair Work Commission on the issue of weekend penalty rates. Bandt says it is unusual for political parties to make submissions to the FWC, and he has suggested that the Opposition made a submission merely to be seen to have done something on the issue. The Greens have vowed to introduce legislation to protect weekend penalty rates if the FWC recommends reducing them.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, TASMANIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES