INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS – GOVERNMENT POLICY – AUSTRALIA

Labor’s wage bargaining plans a risk to exports

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 20-Dec-18

Tom Reid of the Australian Mines & Metals Association has warned that a shift to industry-wide enterprise bargaining could undermine the competitiveness and sustainability of the nation’s resources sector. Labor proposes to restrict industry-wide bargaining to sectors that have low wages, although unions advocate extending it to other sectors of the economy. Meanwhile, Australian Retailers Association CEO Russell Zimmerman says industry-wide bargaining may be a viable alternative to the costly enterprise bargaining process for small retailers.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION, ACTU, ESSO AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

Shorten government would introduce Fair Work pay equity rules

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Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 18-Dec-18

Measures aimed at reducing the gender pay gap will be unveiled at Labor’s national conference on 18 December. Amongst other things, a Labor government would give the Fair Work Commission greater power to undertake pay equity reviews and increase wages in sectors where the majority of workers are women. Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek says the existing laws on pay equity have proven to be inadequate.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. WORKPLACE GENDER EQUALITY AGENCY

Shorten vows to restore a fair go

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Original article by Troy Bramston
The Australian – Page: 6 : 14-Dec-18

Opposition leader Bill Shorten has outlined some of the key policy areas that will be part of its 2019 election campaign. Amongst other things, Labor will legislate to overturn the Fair Work Commission’s penalty rate cuts and introduce a new regulatory regime for labour hire firms. Labor also intends to increase the highest marginal income tax rate by two per cent, abolish the Medicare rebate freeze and restore funding for schools and public hospital to the levels before the Coalition took office in 2013.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

Labor looks at sector-wide right to strike

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 13-Dec-18

Labor’s workplace relations spokesman Brendan O’Connor has advised that industry-wide enterprise bargaining for low-paid workers will be part of its election platform. He has also told the National Press Club that Labor will consider reforms that would permit workers to engage in sector-wide industrial action during enterprise bargaining negotiations. O’Connor argues that evidence from other OECD countries that allow pattern bargaining suggests that there would a low risk of sector-wide industrial action. Key employer groups oppose the reintroduction of pattern bargaining.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB (AUSTRALIA), ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, ACTU, THE MENZIES RESEARCH CENTRE LIMITED, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA

Unions test Labor with airline fight

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 12-Dec-18

Labor will seek support for industry-wide enterprise bargaining for low-paid workers at its upcoming national conference. However, the Transport Workers’ Union will push for the policy on industry-wide bargaining to be broadened to include the aviation sector. Leaders of rival unions do not believe that there is much support within Labor’s senior ranks for such a move, while Qantas CEO Alan Joyce recently warned of the impact that doing so would have on both the airline’s supply chain and the broader economy.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, TRANSPORT WORKERS’ UNION, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB (AUSTRALIA)

Labor trade-off over pattern bargaining

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 11-Dec-18

Industrial relations is likely to be a key issue on the agenda at Labor’s upcoming national conference. Labor sources have indicated that the party is set to reinstate pattern bargaining as part of its industrial relations platform. However, Labor is expected to restrict pattern bargaining to workers in sectors that have low wages, such as childcare and cleaning. The ACTU is leading a union push for pattern bargaining to be allowed across all industries. Labor’s policies on free trade and asylum seekers are also expected to attract debate at the national conference.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ACTU, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB (AUSTRALIA)

Business lists IR demands for O’Dwyer

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Original article by Dana McCauley, Nick Toscano
The Age – Page: 5 : 30-Aug-18

Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox says the passage of three key workplace relations bills through Parliament should be a priority for incoming Industrial Relations Minister Kelly O’Dwyer. The federal government shelved its Ensuring Integrity Bill earlier in 2018, while the Proper Use of Worker Benefits Bill remains stalled in the upper house and Labor has blocked a bill to scrap four-yearly reviews of industrial awards. Willox has also urged O’Dwyer to intervene in a court case regarding the employment status of casual workers.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, WORKPAC PTY LTD, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, MONDELEZ AUSTRALIA (FOODS) LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, ACTU, BORAL LIMITED – ASX BLD, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Howard urges action on unfinished IR reform

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 9-Aug-18

Ex-prime minister John Howard has highlighted the contribution that his government’s commitment to industrial relations reform had on wages growth and the labour market. In a recent address at a private dinner, Howard expressed concern about the lack of government action on workplace reform in recent years, and urged the Coalition to take more action on the issue. Howard praised the Coalition for reinstating the Australian Building & Construction Commission, but argued that further workplace reform is needed.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND SCIENCE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ACTU, PATRICK CORPORATION LIMITED

Rudd cautions Shorten over CFMEU

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 24-Apr-18

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has dismissed suggestions that he is too close to the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union. Former prime minister Kevin Rudd says Shorten should distance himself from the militant union, as he did when he was in office. Meanwhile, Workplace Relations Minister Craig Laundy says Labor’s industrial relations policy is being driven by unions and will result in job losses. Labor intends to scrap the Australian Building & Construction Commission if it wins the next election.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION

Business hits at dismal IR reform moves

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 10-Apr-18

Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox noted the Federal Government’s lack of significant progress on industrial relations reform in 2015. He will use a Brisbane Club speech on 10 April to stress that little has changed in the last three years, particularly with regard to implementing the recommendations of a review of the IR system by the Productivity Commission. Willox will also caution against IR reforms that have been proposed by the ACTU, stating that they would result in the widespread industrial action of the 1960s and 1970s.

CORPORATES
THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, BRISBANE CLUB, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, PATRICK CORPORATION LIMITED