A permit coordinator who breached safety procedures at Chevron's LNG plant on Barrow Island has been found to be unfairly dismissed because the breach, while serious, was not deliberate. Glenn Rogers was the plant's acting permit coordinator and was responsible for issuing permits for maintenance work after ensuring the necessary safety controls we...
‘Mistakes happen': worker gets job back despite serious safety breach
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FWC gives Centrelink fraudster a right-of-entry permit
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has granted a right-of-entry (RoE) permit to a Health Services Union Qld (HSU) official, despite her earlier conviction for Centrelink fraud. The case demonstrated convictions will not bar a RoE permit where the cmn is still satisfied the applicant is a “fit and proper person”. But it also flagged that con...
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Entry permit refused over blackmail and assault convictions
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has refused a union's request for a right of entry (RoE) permit for one of its organisers after considering the organiser's violent criminal record showed he lacked “impulse control and reasonable civility”. The Australian Meat Industry Employees' Union Victorian branch (AMIEU) applied for a permit for Jas...
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ATO offers pay cuts, longer hours
The Australian Tax Office (ATO)'s enterprise bargaining offer proposes increased working hours and a real pay cut in addition to job losses, according to the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU). On Tuesday (February 10) the ATO released its offer for its 21,000 staff to receive 0.8% pay increases for three years and cop a 2% increase in workin...
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HSU in wage cap fight with Vic Govt
The Health Services Union Vic No 1 branch (HSU) has called on the Andrews govt to scrap the state's policy to cap wage increases at 2.5% in the wake of announcing it will seek increases twice that size for public hospital workers. The HSU announced it will seek a 20% pay rise over four years, or 5% a year, for 55,000 public hospital workers. Accord...
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ANZ performance targets unaccountable: FSU
The Financial Services Union (FSU) has accused ANZ of “secretive and biased” performance target setting and pay outcomes as the union's campaign against the bank's proposed enterprise agreement (EA) gathers strength (see ANZ performance pay a risk: FSU). FSU national secretary Fiona Jordan told Workforce unlike the other major banks ANZ...
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High Court to rule on discovery in Boral criminal contempt case
Boral's bid for criminal contempt charges over the construction union's alleged ‘black ban' against it has received a further set back, with the High Court granting the union special leave to appeal against crucial discovery orders granted in the case (WF 05/12/2014). The Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) Victoria branch is ar...
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New treasurer also Qld IR minister
The new Qld Labor Government will combine the Treasury, Employment and Industrial Relations portfolios in its new cabinet, sworn in today (February 16). Labor MP and former public servant Curtis Pitt will head the portfolios and be minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships. The latter portfolio relates to his stint as the head...
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ANZ staff reject bank's offer
ANZ bank employees have rejected a proposed enterprise agreement (EA) which the Finance Sector Union (FSU) has said would have cut working conditions and eroded job security ( WF 13/02/2015 ). Of the 21,000 who would be covered by the EA, 14,155 voted, with 64.48% (9,127) against the offer. FSU national secretary Fiona Jordan said the result was an...
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ACTU push to raise bar on refusing parents' flexible work requests
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has announced it will push for a right to work part-time for employees returning from parental leave as part of the Fair Work Commission's (FWC) modern award review. Under the ACTU's claim an employee returning from parental leave who has responsibility for the care of a child would be “entitled t...
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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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Bum grope out of hours relevant to employment relationship
An employee groping a hotel waitress on the bum at his employer-paid accommodation was out of hours conduct justifying dismissal, the Fair Work Commission has ruled. Commissioner Danny Cloghan held the incident had the requisite connection to employment because the employee was only there because the employer had organised accommodation to deal wit...
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Sexual behaviour not protected by discrimination law: court
The Federal Circuit Court (FCC) has rejected the discrimination claim of a woman sacked because of her acceptance of apolyamorous ‘lifestyle', finding the law protects only sexual orientation and not sexual behaviour or practices. In a decision canvassing the applicability of discrimination law to a wide range of sexual practices including sa...
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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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CFMEU strikes over Boral DMG building code cuts
The Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) NSW is leading an indefinite strike against Boral subsidiary De Martin & Gasparini (DMG) over what it says is the company's use of the unlegislated federal building code to push for cuts to workers' conditions. The union began the protected action on Friday (February 13) to protest an offer ...
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Plebiscite on union merger of posties and sparkies to go ahead
The Federal Court has ordered the Communications Workers Union (CWU) to urgently hold a plebiscite of all its members on the question of empowering its branches to merge with electrical or plumbing divisions ( WF 24/11/14 ) . Justice Robert Buchanan held the motion for a plebiscite by four CWU branches was valid and criticised the CWU national exec...
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Lyons proposes ACTU ‘organising blitz'; flags detailed plans to come
Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) secretary contender Tim Lyons has promised to reveal detailed leadership plans ahead of the May Congress after calling for a “much more aggressive agenda” from the union peak body ( WF 13/02 , WF 16/02 , WF 16/02 ) . In a Facebook Q&A hosted by the National Union of Workers (NUW) last night ...
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Discipline letter was not reasonable management action: FWC
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has refused to strike out a stop-bullying application, finding the employer had failed to show a disciplinary letter warning over alleged rudeness was “reasonable management action”. Commissioner John Lewin noted the disciplinary action was “more threatening and sinister” than the orthodox perf...
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Odd job on holiday no conflict: FWC
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has upheld the unfair dismissal claim of a delivery driver sacked for working for his employer's customer while on annual leave, finding the secondary employment was not a breach of the duty of fidelity. Vice President Adam Hatcher also held there was no duty for an employee to disclose secondary employment which does...
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Unions announce 24-hour strikes at Aurizon in Qld
Two rail unions are set to take three 24-hour strikes at Aurizon coal and freight depots in Qld over the next week, in a move Aurizon chief executive Lance Hockridge described as an “unnecessary and dramatic escalation of industrial activity”. The Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) announced it would hold a 24-hour strike on Friday (Februar...
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