A building company has successfully defended a sham contracting suit on the basis its manager honestly believed workers could choose between being employees or independent contractors. In December 2008 Bavco Pty Ltd engaged five workers it considered independent contractors on subcontractor agreements. The agreements stated the workers were not emp...
Honest belief in workers' choice helps defence to sham contracting
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Royal Cmn mistaken on Parker's consent to separate representation
Construction Forestry Mining & Energy Union (CFMEU) NSW secretary Brian Parker's submissions to the Trade Union Royal Commission (TURC) reveal he did consent to separate legal representation on November 5, despite his new legal representatives winning an extension for submissions on November 13 on the basis he hadn't. Parker's submissions inclu...
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FWC cmr calls for ‘fundamental restructure' of enterprise bargaining
Fair Work Commissioner Danny Cloghan has criticised the current state of enterprise bargaining as just “tinkering around the edges” of decades-old agreements, arguing any benefits from the system have “plateau-ed” out and it was time to consider alternatives. Using his trademark metaphors in a speech to the West Australia IR...
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Resources industry adviser slams Govt & AMMA over visa exemption
An ex-Woodside manager turned IR consultant for the oil and gas industry has blasted the Federal Government for exempting the offshore resources sector from Australian visa requirements, claiming it could “decimate” the local industry. In a speech to the West Australia IR Society conference on the weekend, director of Strategic Human Re...
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Editorial Team
Editor: David Marin-Guzman, (02) 8587 7682, david.marin-guzman@thomsonreuters.com . Chief Journalist: Paul Karp. Managing Editor: Peter Schwab. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
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Construction watchdog investigating employer group
The Fair Work Building and Construction Commission (FWBC) has revealed it is investigating an employer association as well as 38 employers as part of its active investigations into the construction industry. Speaking at the Western Australia IR Society conference last week, FWBC director Nigel Hadgkiss said the agency's 155 active investigations wa...
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Miner agrees to pay CFMEU $19k penalty despite fear ‘excessive'
Whitehaven Coal has agreed to pay the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) a $19k penalty for failing to consult workers about redundancy, despite a judge's concern the penalty may be “manifestly excessive”. Whitehaven Coal Pty Ltd operates mines in Tarrawonga, Rocglen and Werris Creek in NSW. In February 2013 Whitehaven an...
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Tandara Spirit crew quit 20-day sit in
The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) members on the Tandara Spirit have quit their sit in after 20-days, citing extreme stress and threats of legal action against them. The Tandara Spirit's 36 Australian crew members refused to sail from Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay on fears the vessel's charterer Viva Energy would dump them, unemployed, in Singap...
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Adhere to building code or $50bn of Vic projects will get it: Abetz
Federal employment minister Senator Eric Abetz has warned Victoria's Labor opposition that the Federal Government will withdraw Commonwealth funding from $50bn-worth of state projects if a Daniel Andrews-led govt refused to adhere to its new federal building code once it passed the Senate. The Federal Govt released a draft of its proposed new code ...
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Broad EA negotiated with few workers not unfair: bench
A Fair Work Commission (FWC) full bench has said there is nothing “necessarily untoward” in an employer negotiating with just three employees for an enterprise agreement that would cover a far wider set of classifications and apply to all states and territories. But the bench - Senior Deputy President Jonathan Hamberger, DP Ingrid Asbur...
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Reg Orgs Bill back to the Senate
Employment minister Senator Eric Abetz has confirmed the Federal Government will tomorrow introduce into the Senate its Bill to establish a Registered Organisations Commission, boost penalties and increase governance requirements. The Govt reintroduced the Fair Work Registered Organisations Bill 2014 to the lower house in June after the old Senate ...
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Editorial Team
Editor: David Marin-Guzman, (02) 8587 7682, david.marin-guzman@thomsonreuters.com . Chief Journalist: Paul Karp. Managing Editor: Peter Schwab. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
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Tandara Spirit crew quit 20-day sit in
The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) members on the Tandara Spirit have quit their sit in after 20-days, citing extreme stress and threats of legal action against them. The Tandara Spirit's 36 Australian crew members refused to sail from Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay on fears the vessel's charterer Viva Energy would dump them, unemployed, in Singap...
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Stoljar blasts CFMEU failure to contradict royal cmn evidence
Counsel assisting the Trade Union Royal Commission Jeremy Stoljar SC has rejected claims the cmn should not draw inferences from the Construction Forestry Mining & Energy Union's (CFMEU) failure to provide statements from its Victorian leaders to contradict Boral witnesses. Stoljar made the statements in submissions in reply published on Tuesda...
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Stoljar's submissions 'infected' with prejudgment: TWU
The terms of reference of the Trade Union Royal Commission (TURC) presuppose the existence of systemic union corruption and submissions by its counsel assisting Jeremy Stoljar SC were “infected” with the “vice of prejudgment”, according to oral submissions by the Transport Workers Union (TWU) TWU's counsel James Glissan QC m...
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Editorial Team
Editor: David Marin-Guzman, (02) 8587 7682, david.marin-guzman@thomsonreuters.com . Chief Journalist: Paul Karp. Journalist: Steve Andrew. Managing Editor: Peter Schwab. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
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Bargaining Bill creates ‘red tape' and ‘uncertainty'
The Federal Government has introduced legislation proposing new requirements for protected action and bargaining, but legal experts have questioned the Bill as creating a “recipe for uncertainty”. The Fair Work (Bargaining Processes) Bill 2014 introduced into the lower house this morning proposes the Fair Work Commission (FWC) must: be ...
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$125k penalty for failed business' underpayments
The Federal Circuit Court has fined a business $125k for failing to obey court orders to backpay two workers more than $50k, despite finding the business was no longer trading. Judge Frank Turner said “cessation of trading” was no evidence of “incapacity to pay”. Regardless, a fine would serve as a deterrent against similar ...
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AIMPE considers appeal against ‘bizarre' limit on protected action
At presstime, the Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers (AIMPE) was considering whether to an appeal an interim order preventing Port Hedland tugboat workers taking strike action while they were still considering an employer-offered enterprise agreement deal (WF 14/11) . Fair Work Commissioner Danny Cloghan made the November 11, 2014 o...
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Opinion on misconduct sufficient to sack: Court
Upholding the use of a contractual term that lawyers predict employers will increasingly adopt, the NSW Supreme Court has ruled a bank could sack an executive using circumstantial evidence because his contract allowed termination if he had committed serious misconduct in the employer's “opinion”. The case demonstrated the ability for em...
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