INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS – VICTORIA

ACTU calls for a ban on employee lockouts

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 7 : 30-Jan-25

Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox has urged the federal government to reject the ACTU’s push for legislative changes to ban employers from locking out their workers. ACTU secretary Sally McManus contends that reforms are needed to prevent employers from ‘abusing their power’. Her comments were made after visiting the Opal paper mill in Victoria, where its entire workforce has now been locked out for 13 days in retaliation for industrial action by a small number of staff. Willox has described the ACTU’s stance as an ‘extreme’ attack on the collective bargaining rights of employers.

CORPORATES
OPAL, ACTU, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP

Setka’s CFMEU branch backs pay deal worth 20pc

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman, Gus McCubbing
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 18-Jun-24

CFMEU members have backed John Setka’s final deal as Victorian secretary of the union before his retirement. The deal with Master Builders Victoria provides for a 20 per cent increase in pay for construction workers over the next four years and reinstates conditions banned under the former Coalition government’s building code, including union flags on site and union vetoes on rostered days off. The deal is expected to be rolled out to the rest of the construction industry in coming weeks.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY AND MARITIME EMPLOYEES UNION, THE MASTER BUILDERS ASSOCIATION OF VICTORIA

NAB facing criminal charges for failing to pay casuals entitlements

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Original article by Charlotte Grieve
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 26-Oct-21

National Australia Bank has been accused of allegedly violating Victorian laws over its failure to pay long service leave entitlements to casual employees. Victoria’s recently established Wage Inspectorate has filed criminal charges against NAB, while the bank has filed a counter-claim in the Federal Court over the issue. NAB executive Susan Ferrier notes it does not provide casual workers with long service leave under enterprise agreements that have been in place for 20 years, while she says the NAB does not believe casual workers are not covered by state laws for long service leave.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, VICTORIA. WAGES INSPECTORATE

Train staff vote to strike

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Original article by Kieran Rooney
Herald Sun – Page: 8 : 30-Jul-19

Melbourne’s train network may be hit by work bans and stoppages after about 99 per cent of Rail, Tram & Bus Union members voted to take industrial action over stalled negotiations regarding a new enterprise agreement. RTBU state secretary Luba Grigorovitch says the union has been holding talks with Metro Trains for five months, and members will try to minimise the impact of any disruption for commuters. The union is seeking a pay rise of six per cent for Metro’s operational staff, whose existing enterprise agreement expired at the start of July.

CORPORATES
METRO TRAINS MELBOURNE PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN RAIL, TRAM AND BUS INDUSTRY UNION, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

MUA’s challenge to enterprise agreement with VICT thrown out

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 3-Jul-19

A spokesman for Victorian International Container Terminal says the company is likely to seek costs against the Maritime Union of Australia after a court dismissed a challenge to its enterprise agreement. The legal challenge was mounted by dock worker Richard Lunt, but the Federal Court’s Justice Darryl Rangiah ruled that he was a ‘front man’ for the MUA, and that the case was an abuse of process. VICT’s Webb Dock terminal in Melbourne was unlawfully picketed by the MUA in late 2017.

CORPORATES
VICTORIAN INTERNATIONAL CONTAINER TERMINAL PTY LTD, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA

Fair Work Ombudsman accuses toy retailer Uncle Toys of underpaying workers

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Original article by Josh Fagan
Herald Sun – Page: Online : 29-May-19

The Fair Work Ombudsman alleges that retailer Uncle Toys paid some of its employees just $6.70 an hour at its pop-up stores across Melbourne during the Christmas trading period. FWO Sandra Parker says the retailer and its owner Eyal Israel are the first to be prosecuted under the Protecting Vulnerable Workers laws. The eight employees of Uncle Toys who were underpaid are all on temporary working visas, and are said to be owed a total of $21,000 in wages and entitlements.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, UNCLE TOYS

Union warns of action as deal rejected again

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Original article by Sian Powell
The Australian – Page: 31 : 20-Feb-19

Some 67 per cent of Victoria University’s employees have voted against an offer of a two per cent pay rise over five years. It follows a previous ballot in 2018 when 77 per cent of staff voted against the university’s pay deal. The National Tertiary Education Union has urged the university to put forward a new offer, flagging the possibility of industrial action if it fails to do so. The union argues that Victoria University’s block teaching program has increased staff workloads by up to 18 per cent.

CORPORATES
VICTORIA UNIVERSITY, NATIONAL TERTIARY EDUCATION INDUSTRY UNION

Docks strike not an anniversary walkout

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 8 : 5-Apr-18

The Maritime Union of Australia has defended its decision to launch industrial action at Melbourne’s Webb Dock. The MUA attributes the four-day strike to Qube’s refusal to reinstate a 2014 roster whereby employees worked for seven weeks and had one week off. Qube argues that this roster is uneconomic, and it wants the Fair Work Commission to terminates an existing enterprise agreement. The MUA has rejected suggestions that the strike is timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the 1998 waterfront dispute.

CORPORATES
MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, QUBE PORTS, QUBE HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX QUB, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

Threat to strike as union job axed

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 29-Mar-18

Alcoa and the Australian Workers’ Union are negotiating a new enterprise agreement for workers at the Portland aluminium smelter in Victoria. However, the AWU is resisting Alcoa’s push to abolish the full-time position of union convener, which boasts an annual salary of $A123,000. The convener solely undertakes union-related duties at the smelter, and Alcoa contends that the position is not necessary given that the AWU already has a full-time organiser at the site. The AWU has warned of the potential for strike action over the issue.

CORPORATES
ALCOA OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES

Melbourne ports dispute set to escalate

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Original article by Anna Patty
The Age – Page: 24 : 20-Mar-18

Qube Ports wants the Fair Work Commission to terminate an enterprise agreement for dock workers in Melbourne, but the Maritime Union of Australia has warned of further industrial action if Qube succeeds. Workers at Qube’s terminal in Melbourne have staged a 48-hour strike and imposed work bans, and the MUA’s Warren Smith says workers will not return to work if the FWC terminates the enterprise agreement. Qube has rejected the MUA’s push to reinstate a 2014 roster whereby employees worked for seven weeks and had one week off, arguing that it is uneconomic.

CORPORATES
QUBE PORTS, QUBE HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX QUB, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, MIRRAT, ACTU