INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS – GOVERNMENT POLICY – AUSTRALIA

Union bill set to pass, with or without Setka

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Phillip Coorey, Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 25-Oct-19

The federal government is believed to have secured Centre Alliance’s support for the Ensuring Integrity Bill after agreeing to some changes to the draft legislation. Independent senator Jacqui Lambie maintains that she will back the legislation unless John Setka resigns as the Victorian secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union. Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter has in turn urged Labor to sever its ties with the militant union, arguing that the problem is "much bigger" than Setka.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, SKILLS, SMALL AND FAMILY BUSINESS, CENTRE ALLIANCE, ONE NATION PARTY

Setka exit deepens Labor rift

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Phillip Coorey, David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 24-Oct-19

The federal government’s hopes of passing the Ensuring Integrity Bill have been boosted by John Setka’s refusal to step down as Victorian secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union. Setka’s resignation from the Labor party on 23 October has pre-empted an upcoming meeting of its national executive, which had been expected to expel him from the party. However, independent senator Jacqui Lambie maintains that she will back the legislation unless Setka also resigns from his CFMMEU role. Setka’s resignation has been welcomed by Labor leader Anthony Albanese, who led the push to have him expelled.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Union role expected in new IR laws

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Phillip Coorey, David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 23-Oct-19

Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter has confirmed that lifetime workplace agreements for greenfield projects will be part of the federal government’s proposed overhaul of workplace laws. Labor is likely to support the move, given that Porter is expected to endorse lifetime agreements that are negotiated between unions and employers. However, unions have reservations about the proposal.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, SKILLS, SMALL AND FAMILY BUSINESS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Brickworks backs union clampdown

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 26-Sep-19

Brickworks executive Wladyslaw Kluktewicz has expressed support for the federal government’s Ensuring Integrity Bill. He has told a Senate inquiry that the proposed legislation is necessary to address the issue of "rogue" union officials who visit non-unionised workplaces and attempt to hold meetings with workers. Michael Wright, the Electrical Trades Union’s national assistant secretary, also appeared before the inquiry.

CORPORATES
BRICKWORKS LIMITED – ASX BKW, ELECTRICAL TRADES UNION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Government’s anti-union bill retrospective

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 25-Sep-19

ACTU president Michele O’Neil has told a Senate inquiry that some provisions of the federal government’s Ensuring Integrity Bill are retrospective. She says the requirement that a court must be satisfied that the deregistration of a union or the disqualification of an official is unjust would allow the court to take into account industrial breaches that occurred before the legislation took effect. This would have implications for the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union, which has a long history of breaching workplace laws.

CORPORATES
ACTU, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP

Dragging the chain on wage theft must stop

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 4-Sep-19

ACTU secretary Sally McManus has outlined a range of proposed workplace reform measures in a four-page letter to Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter. Amongst other things, McManus has called for action to combat wage theft, an overhaul of the annual minimum wage review, the winding back of penalty rate cuts and allowing unions to undertake sector-wide enterprise bargaining. Porter has indicated that the government will shortly release discussion papers on issues such as wage underpayments.

CORPORATES
ACTU, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, SKILLS, SMALL AND FAMILY BUSINESS, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

Energy policy, IR changes urgent

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Richard Ferguson
The Australian – Page: 7 : 26-Jul-19

Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox has backed comments by top bureaucrat Martin Parkinson on the nation’s declining productivity rate. Willox says that uncertainty regarding energy and carbon emissions policy has contributed to Australia’s underperformance in terms of productivity growth, and he has urged action on these issues. Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry CEO James Pearson has in turn stressed the need for industrial relations reforms in order to lift productivity. Parkinson will shortly retire as the head of the Department of the Prime Minister & Cabinet.

CORPORATES
THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ACTU

It is time we all acted on the unions’ lawlessness

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Pearson
The Australian – Page: 14 : 26-Jul-19

The Ensuring Integrity Bill aims to make registered organisations accountable for their actions in the same way as banks and corporations are held to account for their wrongdoings. The proposed legislation will apply equally to unions and employers’ associations, yet the former oppose it and the latter support it. This raises the question of why unions are reluctant to be held to account. Registered organisations and the individuals who run them enjoy special rights and privileges, and the bill will help to restore public confidence in them.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, BUILDERS’ LABOURERS’ FEDERATION

Transfer of money from workers’ fund theft of wages

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 5 : 25-Jul-19

Attorney-General Christian Porter says transferring money from workers’ entitlement funds to unions or employers’ groups is no more acceptable than the underpayment of staff. The federal government’s Workers Benefit Bill aims to crack down on such practices, with Porter citing examples such as the transfer of money from the Protect fund to the Electrical Trades Union. He says this occurred "for no reason". The Protect fund is jointly run by the ETU and the National Electrical Contractors Association.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, ELECTRICAL TRADES UNION, THE NATIONAL ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS’ ASSOCIATION, ACTU, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Showdown brewing over union ban laws

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 23-Jul-19

ACTU president Michele O’Neill has expressed concern that a key provision of the federal government’s Ensuring Integrity Bill could be misused. It allows any party with a vested interest to apply to the Federal Court to have a union official disqualified. O’Neill warns that this provision could be exploited in order to remove union officials for relatively minor breaches. Attorney-General Christian Porter has downplayed such concerns, arguing that the bill is consistent with Australia’s international obligations.

CORPORATES
ACTU, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION, MAURICE BLACKBURN PTY LTD, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA