LABOR UNIONS – AUSTRALIA

ACTU demands changes to lift workers’ power

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 22-Mar-18

The Australian Industry Group has warned that a push by ACTU secretary Sally McManus for major changes to the industrial relations regime would result in job losses and reduced employment opportunities for young people. McManus has used a National Press Club speech to argue that restrictions on enterprise bargaining are hindering wages growth, and she has called for workers to be given the same bargaining rights as CEOs and multinational corporations. McManus has also claimed that the Fair Work Commission is no longer independent and the Fair Work Ombudsman has been politicised.

CORPORATES
ACTU, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB (AUSTRALIA), AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

New Senate push to kill union merger

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman, Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 21-Mar-18

The Federal Government hopes to secure the support of Senate crossbenchers for legislation to block a merger between the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union and the Maritime Union of Australia. The Nick Xenophon Team has signalled that it is open to negotiations regarding amendments to the Ensuring Integrity Bill, while the Liberal Democratic Party’s David Leyonhjelm say he is holding talks with the Government. The CFMEU-MUA merger will proceed on 27 March unless the bill is amended.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, NICK XENOPHON TEAM, LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, ONE NATION PARTY, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION

ACTU in big push to fix insecure work

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 21-Mar-18

ACTU secretary Sally McManus will use a National Press Club speech on 21 March to advocate major changes to workplace laws. She will stress the need for reforms that provide Australians with increased job security, particularly for people who work for labour hire companies. Amongst other things, McManus will call for the creation of a national labour hire licensing system, allow casual workers to become permanent employees after six months of continuous service and increase the workplace rights of people who are classified as independent contractors.

CORPORATES
ACTU, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB (AUSTRALIA), AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, UBER AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FOODORA

Police material likely to back claims Shorten donation investigation improper

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 21-Mar-18

The Federal Court has postponed a trial concerning the Registered Organisations Commission’s investigation into the Australian Workers’ Union, and ruled that the AWU should be granted access to documents pertaining to the case. The Australian Federal Police want the documents to be subject to public interest immunity, but Justice Tony North ruled that it would be unfair for the union to go to trial without having access to the documents. He said the redacted sections could support the AWU’s claim that the ROC’s investigation was undertaken for an "improper purpose". The ROC is investigating donations to the Australian Labor Party when Bill Shorten was the union’s national secretary.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, AUSTRALIA. REGISTERED ORGANISATIONS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS

Cash could face court over raids

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Original article by Adam Gartrell
The Age – Page: 9 : 16-Mar-18

Daniel Walton, the national secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union, says it will seek to subpoena Jobs Minister Michaelia Cash to appear before a hearing into a police raid on the union’s offices in October 2017. The AWU also wants to subpoena Cash’s former media adviser, David De Garis, who resigned after admitting that he told the media about the raid, as well as the Fair Work Ombudsman’s former media director, Mark Lee. The latter has denied leaking details of the raid to De Garis.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, AUSTRALIA. REGISTERED ORGANISATIONS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, GETUP LIMITED

Retailers seek minimum-wage freeze

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 14-Mar-18

National Retail Association CEO Dominique Lamb says the Fair Work Commission should leave the minimum wage unchanged in 2018, arguing that retailers cannot afford a rise in base wages given the current trading conditions. In contrast, the Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry has proposed increasing the minimum wage by $A13.20 per week, while the ACTU has pushed for a rise of $A50 a week. Labor in turn has called for an above-inflation increase in the minimum wage.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL RETAIL ASSOCIATION LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP

Unions in push for $50-a-week minimum pay rise

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 13-Mar-18

Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox says the ACTU’s proposal for a 7.2 per cent increase in the minimum wage would result in fewer job opportunities for the unemployed and underemployed, while people on low incomes would have less job security. He has urged the Fair Work Commission to limit the 2018 increase in the minimum wage to 1.8 per cent, which equates to $A12.50 a week. The Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry in turn supports a 1.9 per cent increase, or $A13.20 a week. The FWC approved a 3.3 per cent rise in the minimum wage in 2017.

CORPORATES
ACTU, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Union blitz on work laws

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Original article by Ben Schneiders
The Sunday Age – Page: 4 : 11-Mar-18

The ACTU will launch an eight-week advertising campaign on 11 March, aimed at getting Australia’s workplace laws changed through the election of a federal Labor government. The ACTU’s advertisements hit out at big business, and depict workers complaining about lack of work security and struggling to pay their bills. Employer groups contend that current workplace laws give too much power to unions as it is. The ACTU’s campaign is its biggest since its anti-Work Choices campaign against the Howard government between 2005 and 2007, on which it spent $A14.4 million.

CORPORATES
ACTU, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Bosses fight CFMEU-MUA super union

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 9-Mar-18

The full bench of the Fair Work Commission will be asked to overturn the decision to approve a merger between the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union and the Maritime Union of Australia. The Australian Mines & Metals Association and Master Builders Australia will also seek a stay of the decision, which could give the Federal Government time to pass legislation to subject union mergers to a public interest test. Workplace Relations Minister Craig Laundy has urged the Opposition to support the bill.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Late push to stop creation of super-union

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 8-Mar-18

The Australian Mines & Metals Association believes that the Federal Government can still legislate to block the merger of the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union and the Maritime Union of Australia. AMMA has suggested amending the Ensuring Integrity Bill so the Government’s public interest test for union mergers applies before a date for amalgamation has been set. In the bill’s present form, the public interest test applies before a merger date has been set, but the Fair Work Commission has already set this for 27 March. The bill has yet to be put before the Senate.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, NICK XENOPHON TEAM, LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, ONE NATION PARTY