INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS – AUSTRALIA

Aurizon wins fight over legacy perks

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 4-Sep-15

The Federal Court has upheld a Fair Work Commission ruling terminating perks and job protection clauses in a union agreement with Aurizon, Australia’s biggest rail freight operator. The agreement had been imposed on Aurizon in 2010 when the Bligh Government privatised Queensland Rail. The so-called legacy provisions banned forced redundancies, placed restrictions on hiring and rostering and allowed for free travel for 6,000 employees and their families.

CORPORATES
AURIZON HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX AZJ, AUSTRALIAN RAIL, TRAM AND BUS INDUSTRY UNION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, ACTU, UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE

Softly, softly IR push

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 8 : 5-Aug-15

Tourism Accommodation Australia chairman Martin Ferguson has urged the Federal Government to look at implementing the Productivity Commission’s proposed changes to penalty rates. The draft report recommends reducing Sunday penalty rates for workers in sectors such as hospitality and retailing to the level that applies for people who work on Saturdays. It also recommends allowing small and medium enterprises to offer new employees a statutory enterprise contract that does not have to be approved by the Fair Work Commission.

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

Softly, softly IR push

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 8 : 5-Aug-15

Tourism Accommodation Australia chairman Martin Ferguson has urged the Federal Government to look at implementing the Productivity Commission’s proposed changes to penalty rates. The draft report recommends reducing Sunday penalty rates for workers in sectors such as hospitality and retailing to the level that applies for people who work on Saturdays. It also recommends allowing small and medium enterprises to offer new employees a statutory enterprise contract that does not have to be approved by the Fair Work Commission.

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

Hospitality workers underpaid $1.2m

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 25-Jun-15

Data from the Fair Work Ombudsman shows that 2,752 restaurant and cafe employees were not paid their full wage entitlements in 2012-13. It is estimated that they were collectively underpaid some $A1.215m. Penalty rates for working on weekends accounted for 17 per cent of the underpayments. Restaurant & Catering Australia CEO John Hart says the report has coincided with the upcoming deadline for employers to make final submissions to the Fair Work Commission on penalty rates.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, RESTAURANT AND CATERING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Business in victory over forced leave

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 8 : 12-Jun-15

Australia’s Fair Work Commission has ruled that employers are entitled to require an employee covered by an industrial award to take annual leave if they have at least seven weeks of unused leave. Meanwhile, workers who have at least four weeks of accrued leave will be entitled to cash out two weeks’ leave. The Commission noted that cash-out provisions are included in many enterprises agreements. The ruling has been welcomed by employers’ groups, but the ACTU says it will disadvantage many people on low wages.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP

Strike threat to Qld $70b LNG debut

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 4-Aug-14

Three separate LNG exporting plant projects worth a combined $A70bn are being pursued in the Gladstone region of Queensland by consortia led respectively by Santos, Origin Energy and BG Group. The latter has made the most progress, but is now also likely to be the most affected by potential strikes as the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union has applied for protected industrial action. Workers may down tools from 7 August 2014 over talks on a new enterprise bargaining agreement. They seek a "four weeks on, one week off" roster instead of the current "three weeks on, one week off’

CORPORATES
BG GROUP PLC, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, QUEENSLAND CURTIS LNG PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA PACIFIC LNG LIMITED, GLADSTONE LNG PTY LTD, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, BECHTEL PTY LTD, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED

Ombudsman blasts award complexity

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Original article by Mathew Dunckley
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 23-Jul-14

Australia’s Fair Work Ombudsman, Natalie James, believes that the industrial awards system remains too complex and employers find it difficult to understand. Many of the enquiries fielded by James’s office concern wage rates under the modern awards system. James says the Fair Work Commission’s review of industrial awards should ensure that in future all awards are consistent with the national employment standards

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN|AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION|AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT

Abbott changes ‘a crime, absurd’

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Original article by Peter Martin
The Age – Page: 3 : 3-Jul-14

US-based economist and Nobel Prize laureate Joseph Stiglitz is visiting Australia. He has criticised some of the measures contained in the Federal Government’s May 2014 Budget, such as full deregulation of university course fees and co-payments for visits to general practitioners. Stiglitz also says the industrial relations system in Australia is superior to that in the US, as strong unions are a necessity in ensuring wages are high enough to boost the overall economy

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EDUCATION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES. MEDICARE AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, NOBEL FOUNDATION