LABOR UNIONS – AUSTRALIA

Construction watchdog ‘is misleading bosses’

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 19-Jun-17

The Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union may take legal action against the Australian Building & Construction Commission over alleged misinformation on its website. Dave Noonan, the national secretary of the CFMEU’s construction division, claims that the alleged inaccuracies on the ABCC’s website cover issues such as the rights of union officials to enter worksites and the investigations of alleged breaches of workplace laws.

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

Telstra denies ‘ambush’ over massive job cuts

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Original article by Supratim Adhikari
The Australian – Page: 21 : 16-Jun-17

Telstra is to make 1,400 workers redundant, with the majority of the job losses understood to be occurring in New South Wales and Victoria. Telstra has refuted union claims that there was insufficient consultation about its actions, while Melissa Donnelly from the Community & Public Sector Union says that country areas could be especially impacted by the redundancies. She says it is hard to imagine that the job losses will not result in a drop in the quality of Telstra’s customer service.

CORPORATES
TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC SECTOR UNION, NBN CO LIMITED

Senate pushes union pay deal inquiry

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 5 : 16-Jun-17

The Senate will proceed with an inquiry into enterprise bargaining agreements struck by the Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees Association and large retailers. The inquiry follows allegations that employers such as Coles and KFC had offered EBAs with lower penalty rates than the industry award. The inquiry’s scope to look into "any other related matters" will be restricted to penalty rates in the retail, hospitality and fast-food sectors. This is likely to exclude Cleanevent from the inquiry. Its controversial EBA was negotiated during the tenure of Opposition Leader Bill Shorten at the Australian Workers’ Union.

CORPORATES
SHOP, DISTRIBUTIVE AND ALLIED EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, KFC, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, McDONALD’S AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CLEANEVENT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, COUNCIL OF SMALL BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NICK XENOPHON TEAM, ACTU

Minimum pay hike ‘risks benefits of penalty cuts’

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 8 : 7-Jun-17

The ACTU says the 3.3 per cent increase in the minimum wage is insufficient, although employers’ groups warn that it could lead to job losses and deter businesses from hiring additional staff. The Fair Work Commission’s ruling lifts the minimum wage by $A22.20 a week to $A694.90, with president Iain Ross arguing that it is unlikely to have much adverse impact on employment. He added that this would probably not have been the case if a larger increase in the minimum wage had been approved.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION, FRONTLINE HOBBIES

Labor baulking at union calls for bosses to be jailed for wage theft

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 6-Jun-17

Transport Workers’ Union national secretary Tony Sheldon says executives of companies that persistently engage in wage theft should face criminal penalties, which could include jail terms. ACTU secretary Sally Mc­Manus supports increased penalties for wage exploitation, arguing that the current sanctions are not a deterent. However, she does not support jail terms for wage theft, while the Federal Opposition’s workplace relations spokesman Brendan O’Connor says Labor is not convinced of the need for such penalties.

CORPORATES
TRANSPORT WORKERS’ UNION, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Big business challenge over penalty cuts

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 6-Jun-17

Employment Minister Michaelia Cash says the Fair Work Commission’s decision to phase in lower penalty rates will encourage small businesses to trade on Sundays and create jobs. Public holiday and Sunday penalty rates in sectors such as retailing and hospitality will be reduced over several years, a move that has been welcomed by the Business Council of Australia. However, the Australian Retailers Association argues that the full reduction in Sunday rates should have been made by mid-2018, while United Voice will seek to have the FWC decision overturned by the Federal Court.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION, UNITED VOICE, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, TOURISM ACCOMMODATION AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Fall in collective agreements blamed on union coverage

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 1-Jun-17

Research shows that just 36.4 per cent of Australian employees were covered by collective agreements in 2016, down from 43.4 per cent in 2010. The authors note that the proportion of workers covered by union agreements has declined since 2014, while coverage by non-union agreements has steadied after falling between 2010 and 2014. ACTU president Ged Kearney claims that on average, full-time workers who are covered by union agreements are paid an additional $A410 per week.

CORPORATES
ACTU, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Clubs industry split over penalty rates

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 9-May-17

United Voice has welcomed the decision by the RSL & Services Clubs Association of Queensland not to come under the hospitality award. The Fair Work Commission has suggested that the clubs award be scrapped and clubs be transferred to the hospitality award, so that clubs would not be at a disadvantage to hospitality employers. Such a disadvantage has been highlighted by Clubs Australia, which was unable to convince the FWC to cut penalty rates for clubs during its recent examination of rates within various sectors.

CORPORATES
UNITED VOICE, CLUBS AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, RSL AND SERVICES CLUBS ASSOCIATION OF QUEENSLAND

Penalties hypocrisy storm for Bill’s bus

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Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 28-Apr-17

Employment Minister Michaelia Cash has accused Australian Labor Party leader Bill Shorten of hypocrisy over his opposition to Sunday penalty rate cuts. Cash was commenting on revelations that several enterprise agreements negotiated for retail workers in north Queensland by the Australian Workers’ Union during Shorten’s time as its leader left staff working on Sundays worse off than under previous agreements. A spokesperson for Shorten said he had no involvement in the negotiations that led to the agreements in question.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, TARGET AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, BIG W DISCOUNT STORES, JUST JEANS PTY LTD, RYDGES HOTELS – RESORTS, SHOP, DISTRIBUTIVE AND ALLIED EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION

$500k in fines for ‘arrogant’ CFMEU

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Original article by Simone Fox Koob
The Australian – Page: 2 : 12-Apr-17

The Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union has been ordered to pay a $A490,000 fine over unlawful industrial action in 2014. The Federal Court has also imposed fines of between $A6,400 and $A22,400 on 10 CFMEU officials for their involvement in the industrial action against Kane Constructions. The strike action, which disrupted 10 construction projects in Victoria, was prompted by Kane’s move to enforce union right-of-entry laws. The judgment has been welcomed by Employment Minister Michaelia Cash.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, KANE CONSTRUCTIONS PTY LTD, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING WORKERS’ UNION, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, SIR OWEN DIXON CHAMBERS, BMC WELDING AND CONSTRUCTION, JOHN BEEVER PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION