LABOR UNIONS – AUSTRALIA

Union duo plead guilty over drugs

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 : 16-Sep-19

Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union NSW organisers Simon Gutierrez and Nicholas Rekes have pleaded guilty to drug possession and dealing charges in Sydney Local Court. Rekes and Gutierrez were arrested in April, after a police operation that saw $4,000 worth of drugs seized and which also involved the arrest of CFMMEU NSW assistant secretary Michael Greenfield. Greenfield pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine in July, but avoided jail or a conviction. Master Builders Association CEO Denita Wain says the fact that the three still retain significant workplace entry rights despite the charges against them shows why the federal government’s Ensuring Integrity laws are so necessary.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA,{SHARE}MASTER BUILDERS’ ASSOCIATION

The wages explanation you won’t hear from Treasury or the RBA

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Original article by David Peetz
The New Daily – Page: Online : 10-Sep-19

Australian nominal wage growth has been under half the OECD average since 2013, according to Jim Stanford from the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work. A senior Treasury official recently suggested low wage growth could be due to workers not changing jobs, while Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe has contended caps on civil service pay rises might be another factor. A further factor behind low wage growth that neither Lowe or the Treasury official seemed to take into account is the reduction in worker bargaining power that has resulted from the fall in unionisation over recent decades.

CORPORATES
ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT, THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE LIMITED, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Dragging the chain on wage theft must stop

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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

Closure threat over union agreement OK: Fair Work

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 23-Aug-19

The Electrical Trades Union has indicated that it may launch coercion proceedings in the Federal Court regarding an enterprise agreement at New South Wales-based DDP Electrical Services, which excluded the ETU. The Fair Work Commission approved the agreement despite a letter from DDP to its staff which claimed that it would be out of business within six months if the ETU was successful in negotiating a new agreement. The FWC found that the warning was not a breach of ‘good faith bargaining’, as workers were still given a choice between a union and non-union agreement.

CORPORATES
DDP ELECTRICAL SERVICES, ELECTRICAL TRADES UNION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

AMP accused of leaving planners in limbo

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Original article by Joyce Moullakis
The Australian – Page: 12 : 20-Aug-19

The Finance Sector Union will ask the Fair Work Commission to intervene over AMP’s plans to revamp its financial planning operations. AMP has indicated that it intends to reduce the amount it pays when acquiring financial planning practices as a ‘buyer of last resort’, as well as cutting adviser numbers. The AMP Financial Planners Association will hold a meeting during August to allow members to vote on possible courses of legal action against AMP.

CORPORATES
AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, FINANCE SECTOR UNION, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AMP FINANCIAL PLANNERS ASSOCIATION

CFMEU seeks to lock in pay rises forever

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 16-Aug-19

New South Wales employers say the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union draft pattern agreement for that state is the most restrictive they have seen. The agreement essentially calls for pay increases of five per cent a year for as long as the agreement is not terminated or replaced, while it also calls for a ban on large concrete pours after 11am. It also calls for increases to various allowances and casual loadings, for a rostered day off every second week, and for employer contributions to various union-linked entities. The Australian Building and Construction Commission states the draft agreement breaches the federal government’s building code.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION

Unionist in bogus safety campaign

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 13-Aug-19

A CFMEU official has been found to have engaged in unorganised unlawful industrial action, coercion and adverse action against crane company Red Cranes. Federal Circuit Court judge Robert Cameron has found that Tony Sloane orchestrated a sham safety campaign against the company after it terminated the employment of a union delegate after he suffered a series of knee injuries that Red Cranes felt posed a safety risk. Cameron’s findings against Sloane followed legal action by the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT OF AUSTRALIA, RED CRANES, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION

Union campaign forgot voters

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 9-Aug-19

Former Labor executive Evan Moorhead has undertaken a review of the ACTU’s ‘Change the Rules’ campaign, which is estimated to have cost about $10m. The confidential review has concluded that the campaign did not resonate with voters because its policy objectives were too complex and it was ‘swamped’ by competing messages from the Coalition, Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party and Labor’s own election campaign. Moorhead also found that many union organisers did not fully embrace the ACTU campaign due to complacency that Labor would win the election.

CORPORATES
ACTU, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, UNITED AUSTRALIA PARTY

Setka power play: brutal and radical

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Original article by David Penberthy
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 2-Aug-19

The Victorian branch of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union has been accused of ‘infiltrating’ the militant union’s South Australian branch, with a view to taking it over. Aaron Cartledge was the CFMMU’s SA secretary until 2018, when he was forced out of the role he had held for six years. He notes that prosecutions against the state branch for breaching workplace laws have increased significantly since Victorian officials began exerting their influence. Victorian state secretary John Setka has not responded to Cartledge’s allegations.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, SOUTH AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF TREASURY AND FINANCE, MASTER BUILDERS’ ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED

Union push to increase casual pay in hospitality sector

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 29-Jul-19

United Voice wants the Fair Work Commission to rule that casual employees in the hospitality industry are entitled to a 25 per cent loading in addition to overtime penalty rates. NSW Business Chamber CEO Stephen Cartwright argues that employers cannot afford such a cost increase. He adds that while the Chamber agrees that casuals should be paid overtime at the same rate as permanent employees. However, it is of the view that as casual loading is meant to compensate for lack of employee entitlements such as annual leave, it should not apply during overtime as permanent employees do not accrue such entitlements while doing overtime work.

CORPORATES
UNITED VOICE, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, NSW BUSINESS CHAMBER LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION