INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS – AUSTRALIA

Beef up workers’ rights to halt exploitation

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Original article by Mark Zirnsak, Heather Moore
The Age – Page: 18 : 11-Jan-16

There is growing evidence that Australian employers are underpaying staff in a wide range of sectors, particular people who are on temporary work visas or student visas. Temporary workers supplied by labour hire firms are also being exploited, with low wages and long working hours. The Productivity Commission has made a number of welcome recommendations to address the issue, including increased funding for the Fair Work Ombudsman and ensuring that people on temporary work visas are fully informed of their rights.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, 7-ELEVEN STORES PTY LTD, PIZZA HUT AUSTRALIA, MELBOURNE CRICKET GROUND, BAIADA POULTRY PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, JL POULTRY PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, UNITING CHURCH IN AUSTRALIA, BAPTIST CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA

Heavy holiday hit for retailers as workers ring up penalty bonanza

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Original article by Joe Kelly, Gina Rushton, Elizabeth Colman
The Australian – Page: 4 : 23-Dec-15

Australian retailers that choose to trade between Christmas and New Year face a huge staff penalty rates bill. Australian Retailers Association executive director Russell Zimmerman notes that just three days between 25 December and 3 January will attract standard hourly wage rates. He has welcomed the Productivity Commission’s recommendation to reduce Sunday penalty rates to the level that applies on Saturdays.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ACTU, UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, BING LEE ELECTRICS PTY LTD

Cash steps in to quell union penalty rate campaign

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 21-Dec-15

The Productivity Commission is scheduled to release its final report on the industrial relations system on 21 December 2015. Its recommendations are tipped to include reducing Sunday penalty rates for some industries to the same level that apply for working on Saturday. However, Employment Minister Michaelia Cash has stressed that the Fair Work Commission will be solely responsible for determining penalty rates.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, UNITED VOICE, ACTU

Cowin’s fee solution to penalty rate stand-off

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 18-Dec-15

Australian businessman Jack Cowin has warned that industries such as hospitality will be forced to increase their prices unless weekend penalty rates are reduced. The founder of Hungry Jack’s argues that fast food restaurants and hotels will need to lift their prices if they have to keep paying people higher wages for doing the same job on weekends as on weekdays. Russell Zimmerman of the Australian Retailers Association says lower penalty rates would enable retailers to employ more staff.

CORPORATES
HUNGRY JACK’S PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION, DOMINO’S PIZZA ENTERPRISES LIMITED – ASX DMP, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Business pushes PM on IR, tax

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Original article by Ben Potter, Ewin Hannan, Patrick Durkin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 11 : 9-Dec-15

Business Council of Australia president Catherine Livingstone has used the Workplace and Productivity Summit to call on the Federal Government to pursue changes to the industrial relations and tax regimes. However, economist Ross Garnaut told the summit – which has been organised by "The Australian Financial Review" – that there is no need for tax cuts in sectors that face limited competition. GE Australia CEO Geoff Culbert and ACTU secretary Dave Oliver were among the other speakers during the first day of the summit.

CORPORATES
BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, GE AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN HUMAN RESOURCES INSTITUTE, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, AIRTASKER PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ

Penalty rates are real money for real people

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Original article by Jo-Anne Schofield
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 63 : 29-Oct-15

There is pressure from employers in Australia’s hospitality and tourism sectors to reduce weekend penalty rates, but such a move would be unfair to workers. They often earn close to the minimum wage. Employers claim that the reduction in penalty rates would have beneficial effects, but their arguments are flawed.

CORPORATES
ACTU, VICTORIAN TRADES HALL COUNCIL, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, TOURISM ACCOMMODATION AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, UNITED VOICE

Union membership slumps to record low, ABS finds

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 28-Oct-15

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that just 1.6 million people across the economy are members of a union. The proportion of workers who are union members fell from 17 per cent to 15 per cent in the year to August 2014. Union membership in the private and public sectors has fallen to 11.1 per cent and 39 per cent respectively. However, ACTU secretary Dave Oliver estimates that about 1.8 million Australians are union members.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Union influence out of control: Ferguson

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 27-Oct-15

Former ACTU president Martin Ferguson believes that trade unions have too much influence over the Australian Labor Party. The former federal MP has criticised Labor’s resistance to changes to the industrial relations system. Australian Workers’ Union national secretary Scott McDine has dismissed Ferguson’s criticism as hypocritical. As chairman of Tourism Accommodation Australia, Ferguson represents the interests of employers in the tourism sector.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, TOURISM ACCOMMODATION AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN HOTELS ASSOCIATION

Penalty rates a relic of class war

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Original article by David Leyonhjelm
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 38 : 9-Oct-15

If the Australian Government is serious about job creation, it should remove penalty rates. A bill introduced by Senator David Leyonhjelm, of the Liberal Democratic Party, would remove obstacles to job creation in the restaurant, retail and tourism industries. The bill removes penalty rates for working on Saturday and Sunday. However, penalty rates would apply after the first 10 hours of work on any day.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY

Let companies and workers set their own penalties

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Original article by Michael Angwin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 63 : 8-Oct-15

The Productivity Commission has proposed reducing penalty rates in some industries for working on Sundays. However, penalty rates should not apply across-the-board in all industries. They could instead be applied on an enterprise basis, whereby penalty rates are only paid to employees as compensation for working what are deemed to be "unsocial hours". While there is some risk of employers abusing an enterprise-based system by reducing staff wages, most can be expected to treat employees fairly.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, VUE DE MONDE