LABOR UNIONS – AUSTRALIA

CFMEU’s 18 per cent pay grab

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Original article by Ewin Hannan, Patrick Hatch
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 2 : 26-May-16

Victorian members of the militant Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union have approved a new enterprise agreement for construction workers. It includes an annual wage rise of five per cent for the next three years and a three per cent pay rise the following year. John Setka, the state secretary of the CFMEU’s building division, said members should lock in the pay deal in case the Coalition wins the federal election and makes another attempt to reinstate the Australian Building & Construction Commission.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, THE MASTER BUILDERS ASSOCIATION OF VICTORIA, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, BROOKFIELD MULTIPLEX LIMITED, PROBUILD PTY LTD, HICKORY GROUP PTY LTD, LU SIMON PTY LTD, BUILT PTY LTD

Watchdog drops action against CFMEU boss

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 25-May-16

Fair Work Building & Construction will not proceed with legal action against Michael O’Connor, the national secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union. In February 2016, FWBC accused O’Connor and 12 other union officials of engaging in unlawful industrial action by targeting construction contractor De Martin & Gasparini. FWBC has conceded that O’Connor was not in a photograph that was presented as evidence in the case against the CFMEU officials.

CORPORATES
FAIR WORK BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, DE MARTIN AND GASPARINI PTY LTD, BORAL LIMITED – ASX BLD, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Macca’s workers underpaid by millions

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Original article by Ben Schneiders, Nick Toscano, Royce Millar
The Age – Page: 1 : 20-May-16

Fast-food group McDonald’s is the latest Australian company to be embroiled in a wages scandal. An investigation has revealed that many McDonald’s staff are on wages that are below the award rate when penalty rates are taken into account, due to an enterprise agreement that the Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees’ Association negotiated in 2013. Penalty rates for working on weekends are excluded from the agreement.

CORPORATES
McDONALD’S AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SHOP, DISTRIBUTIVE AND ALLIED EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION, 7-ELEVEN STORES PTY LTD, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, NATIONAL TERTIARY EDUCATION INDUSTRY UNION, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

Unions break ranks in fight to maintain penalty rates

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 20-May-16

Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Luke Hilakari favours adding penalty rates to the National Employment Standards if the Fair Work Commission reduces weekend rates. The Australian Greens have proposed legislation to protect penalty rates if they are cut by the FWC, although this is opposed by both the Federal Opposition and the ACTU. Employment Minister Michaelia Cash has stressed that governments should not intervene on penalty rates.

CORPORATES
VICTORIAN TRADES HALL COUNCIL, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ACTU, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, ELECTRICAL TRADES UNION

Master Builders slams pay deal with CFMEU

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 19-May-16

Employees of some building industry contractors in Victoria will receive an annual pay rise of five per cent after securing a deal with the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union. Master Builders has expressed concern about the above-inflation wage rise and signalled that it is unlikely to endorse the deal. Some industry players have suggested that the contractors agreed to the deal as they feared facing even more demands from the CFMEU if the Australian Labor Party wins the federal election.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, THE MASTER BUILDERS ASSOCIATION OF VICTORIA, MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, AUSTANNERS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, FAIR WORK BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

SDA canvasses penalty cut

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 18-May-16

The Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees’ Association does not support a push to reduce penalty rates for working on weekends. However, its submission to the Fair Work Commission’s review of weekend penalty rates proposes that workers be given the right to refuse to work on Sundays if the FWC rules that Sunday penalty rates should be reduced to the level that applies for working on Saturdays.

CORPORATES
SHOP, DISTRIBUTIVE AND ALLIED EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, TRANSPORT WORKERS’ UNION, AUSTRALIA. ROAD SAFETY REMUNERATION TRIBUNAL

Pressure on Shorten over penalty rates

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 16-May-16

The Fair Work Commission is likely wait until after the 2016 federal election to issue its ruling on weekend penalty rates. Unions have urged Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to introduce greater protection for employees who receive penalty rates, although the Australian Labor Party has previously indicated that it will not oppose the FWC’s ruling if it recommendations a reduction in Sunday penalty rates.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, ACTU

Unionists descend into business-class warfare

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Original article by Elizabeth Colman
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 29-Apr-16

ACTU secretary Dave Oliver has accused Tourism Accommodation Australia chairman Martin Ferguson of hypocrisy. Ferguson has called for Sunday penalty rates in the hospitality industry to be reduced, but Oliver notes that the former federal Australian Labor Party minister’s parliamentary Gold Pass allows him to travel business-class while advocating a reduction in the wages of low-paid employees. The Fair Work Commission is reviewing weekend penalty rates in sectors such as hospitality and retailing.

CORPORATES
ACTU, TOURISM ACCOMMODATION AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA

Unions to push for penalty rates law

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 26-Apr-16

Unions have criticised Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten for indicating that he will support the Fair Commission’s decision if it rules in favour of reducing Sunday penalty rates. They argue that his comments undermines the union movement’s "Save Our Weekend" campaign, and the Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Luke Hilakari says unions will seek to have minimum penalty rates included in the National Employment Standards if the Opposition wins the 2016 federal election.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, VICTORIAN TRADES HALL COUNCIL, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, ACTU, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION

CFMEU fights Lendlease to fly flags

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 15-Apr-16

The removal of union flags from cranes at Lend Lease’s apartment project in Brisbane has triggered a strike by construction workers. Lawyers for the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union argued before the Fair Work Commission that Lend Lease’s action was an attack on "a workplace right", but the commission rejected this argument and ordered workers to return to work.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, LEND LEASE GROUP LIMITED – ASX LLC, MASTER BUILDERS OF AUSTRALIA, BUILDERS’ LABOURERS, PAINTERS’ AND PLASTERERS’ UNION, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION