The Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) Victoria branch has admitted it threatened to block a contractor from building work if it did not sign an enterprise agreement (EA), despite previous denials that resulted in the case originally being thrown out ( WF18545 ) . The CFMEU made the admission involving contractor Bendigo Construction...
CFMEU avoids retrial over coercion claims after reaching $60K deal
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SDP conducts own review of CFMEU entry breaches
Fair Work Commission Senior Deputy President Matthew O'Callaghan has dismissed union claims of bias after he took extraordinary action against the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) over concerns it misused its right of entry (RoE) permits in a separate unlawful industrial action case ( WF18925 ) . Earlier this month, SDP O'Callaghan...
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AMMA looks to Lambley case to justify new appeals board
The Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) has kept up its attack on the Fair Work Commission, citing the extraordinary case of a dock worker fired after allegedly being ‘set up' in a workplace fight as evidence of the inconsistency of its decisions. As part of a statement released today, AMMA said last week's split full bench decisio...
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FWC bench dispatches ALAEA last gasp bid to junk Qantas AMEs EA
A Fair Work Commission full bench has given short shrift to an Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) bid to set aside a Qantas enterprise agreement for maintenance aircraft engineers. In July, Vice President Graeme Watson approved the Qantas Airways Limited (AWU, AMWU, CEPU) Enterprise Agreement 9 despite ALAEA objections ( WF1...
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Editorial team
Editor: Rajiv Maharaj, (03) 8684 2139, rajiv.maharaj@thomsonreuters.com . Chief Journalist: David Marin-Guzman. Journalist: Steve Andrew. Managing Editor: Peter Schwab. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
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Howes blasts Rio alumina production suspension a disgrace
Australian Workers Union (AWU) secretary Paul Howes has savaged Rio Tinto management's decision to end its alumina refinery operations in Gove in the Northern Territory. The closure announced by Rio earlier today will mean the loss of about 1,500 jobs, and a $500m hit for the NT economy. The smelter will now be used to process bauxite only. Howes a...
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PC review of labour laws must be relevant to next gen: McCallum
Leading labour law academic Professor Ron McCallum has called for the Federal Government to broaden its upcoming Productivity Commission (PC) inquiry into the Fair Work laws to cover workers for whom labour laws were becoming increasingly irrelevant. Speaking in Sydney yesterday (November 28) at the annual eponymous Ron McCallum Debate - which ques...
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AiGroup predicts collapse of general protections system
Australian Industry Group (AiG) workplace relations director Stephen Smith has warned the general protections system must be “fixed without delay”, or it will “eventually collapse under the weight of excessive claims from dismissed senior managers, much like what occurred with the unfair contracts jurisdiction under the NSW IR Act...
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Australia Post porn trio reinstated but cop 75% penalty on lost pay
The Fair Work Commission has ordered Australia Post to reinstate three workers it unfairly sacked for sending pornographic emails at work. In the long-running case of B, C and D v Australia Post , a cmn full bench majority held the 2011 sacking of the three workers was unfair after taking into account Post's “culture of tolerance” and f...
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AMMA looks to Lambley case to justify new appeals board
WFD: The Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) has kept up its attack on the Fair Work Commission, citing the extraordinary case of a dock worker fired after allegedly being 'set up' in a workplace fight as evidence of the inconsistency of its decisions. As part of a statement released on Thursday (November 28), AMMA said last week's split...
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RoE holders copied secret docs
The Fair Work Building Commission (FWBC) has warned contractors to keep confidential documents secure after it revealed a right-of-entry (RoE) permit holder had gained access to a wide-range of material during a health and safety investigation. In a November industry update , FWBC said unnamed ROE permit holders recently attended a large project si...
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Ex-employer org head faces charges
WFD: An associate of disgraced ex-Queensland MP Scott Driscoll ( WF18945 ) and former secretary of a Qld employer organisation has been charged by police for allegedly providing false documents to the Qld Industrial Relations Commission (QIRC). Bruce Mills, who replaced Driscoll as head of the Qld Retail Traders and Shopkeepers Association (QRTSA) ...
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RBA deputy looks on the bright side of labour productivity
WFD: Reserve Bank of Australia deputy chairman Phillip Lowe has said there is cause for optimism about Australia's future productivity growth, with reports that employers had made "serious" efforts to increase their efficiency in recent years. However, speaking at the University of NSW productivity conference on Tuesday (November 26) Lowe warned th...
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Bill excludes building code from adverse action/coercion protections
WFD: The Australian Industry Group (AiG) has welcomed the Federal Government's Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Bill 2013, saying in its interpretation the Bill excludes the govt from adverse action and coercion claims when implementing a national building code and guidelines ( WF18935 ) . However, the employer group has ...
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Redundancy/income protection schemes funds union militancy: AiG
WFD: The Australian Industry Group (AiG) has taken aim at union coercion of employers to pay into industry redundancy funds or income protection insurance products, saying it was a "far more significant problem" than coercing to pay money into particular superannuation funds. (Continued) Big commissions for unions AiG's submission on the Building a...
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ACTU slams ROC Bill, employers worried about officer exposure
WFD: The Aust Council of Trade Unions has mounted a scathing attack on the Fair Work (Registered Organisation) Amendment Bill 2013, saying there is no justification for a proposed Registered Organisation Commission (ROC) to have Australian Securities and Investments Commission-like powers (WF18934) . In its submission to the inquiry into the Bill b...
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FWBC focus on building sites, palms off sham contracting to FWO
WFD: Fair Work Building and Construction (FWBC) has struck a deal to hand over its sham contracting and wage compliance investigations and prosecutions remit to the Fair Work Ombudsman. Recently appointed FWBC director Nigel Hadgkiss confirmed the arrangement made with the FWO in Senate estimates hearings last week. He said the construction industr...
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Abetz invites informal input on terms of reference for FW Act review
WFD: Employment minister Senator Eric Abetz has consulted privately on the terms of reference for the upcoming Productivity Commission review into the Fair Work laws, he revealed in senate estimates last Thursday (November 22). Responding to questions from new workplace relations senate committee member Labor Senator Mehmet Tillem, Abetz said there...
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Coalition questions Tighe govt appointment
WFD: The Coalition Government has questioned Labor's appointment of ex-Communications Electrical Plumbing Union (CEPU) secretary Peter Tighe to head a government agency, requesting the Department of Employment provide evidence of his selection process. Tighe retired from his role as CEPU secretary on July 22 this year. He had applied for - and was ...
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Qld IR reforms pass despite opposition
WFD: The Queensland parliament has passed the state's IR reforms, which introduce state employment standards, arbitration and conciliation time limits and an award modernisation process, despite union claims it was “worse than WorkChoices” (WF18915) . The Industrial Relations (Fair Work Act Harmonisation No. 2) and Other Legislation Ame...
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