WFD: In one of the few anti-bullying decisions made, a Fair Work Commission “Recommendation” has called on an employer to give a worker a pay rise and restructure its organisation. Senior Deputy President Lea Drake recommended the unnamed Parents and Citizens (P &C) Association respondent disband its canteen committee “as soon...
Bullying decision recommends pay rise
↧
↧
ETU members would have protested $500k ALP loan if knew: official
WFD: An Electrical Trade Union (ETU) state councillor has denied the union's state council discussed the $500k loan to the NSW ALP before it was made, saying he would have recalled it since members would have given him “flack” for it. ETU state councillor Brad Currey told the Trade Union Royal Commission on April 28 he did not recall di...
↧
ETU pres backs Riordan over loan but at a loss over minutes
WFD: The Electrical Trades Union (ETU) NSW president has given evidence to the Trade Union Royal Commission that the union's half a million dollar loan to the ALP was discussed in an executive meeting in late 2010. However, he said the exec asked no questions about the loan and he had “no understanding” why it was not recorded in the mi...
↧
Riordan said union didn't need to ok ALP $500k ‘investment': Sinclair
WFD: Electrical Trades Union (ETU) NSW assistant secretary Paul Sinclair has denied his own union's claims that it approved former secretary Bernie Riordan's decision to loan half a million dollars of the union's money to NSW Labor at the time it was transferred on Christmas Eve 2010 ( WF 24/04/2015 ) . The ETU NSW has claimed that the $500k loan -...
↧
Verbal notices ‘must be clear':
WFD: While termination can take effect without written notice, the verbal advice must be unambiguous, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has reaffirmed. Tossing out argument by employer One Earth opposing an application for unfair dismissal relief on the basis it was out of time, Deputy President Anne Gooley said the company's termination notice was un...
↧
↧
Unlawful strikes were relevant to MUA RoE permit: Full Court
WFD: The Full Federal Court has held the Fair Work Commission (FWC) can impose conditions on entry permits for those who otherwise might not be judged ‘fit and proper' persons, lowering the bar for union officials to get permits despite imperfect records. The full court came to the decision after rejecting a Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) ...
↧
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. Product Code: 314021719595. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
↧
Diary
NSW IR Society Conference: May 22, Leura. More info here . ACTU Congress : May 26-28, Melbourne. Speakers include Bill Shorten, Tanya Plibersek, Dave Oliver and Ged Kearney. More info here . Committee for Economic Development of Australia : ‘Digital disruption and Australia's future workforce'. June 16, Melbourne. More info here . Australian ...
↧
Public servants, including at ATO, to start rolling strikes on budget day
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) governing council has approved escalating industrial action in Australian Public Sector bargaining, including hitting the Australian Tax Office (ATO) with a budget day stoppage. At press time, Workforce confirmed the council of 70 rank and file delegates approved the escalation. A CPSU spokesperson said ...
↧
↧
Safety overrides sacked miner's ‘dedication to his beard': FWC
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has found a worker was not unfairly sacked for refusing to shave his beard after finding a clean shave was necessary for him to wear safety equipment. BHP Billiton Pty Ltd instituted an across the board clean-shaven policy for underground operations in 2014. Workers had to be clean-shaven to properly fit face masks an...
↧
Employees lose out on post-receiver ‘profit'
For the first time, the Qld Supreme Court has held a receiver's trading profit generated post-appointment does not have to be used to satisfy employees' entitlements as a priority. Justice Debra Mullins made the ruling in deciding that the receivers of key Ford parts supplier CMI Industrial Pty Ltd pay the surplus to its priority creditor and forme...
↧
Real wages falling as collective bargaining weakens: report
The real wages of the average Australian worker are shrinking and weaker collective bargaining is resulting in more income going to profits not wages, according to a progressive policy think tank report. The Per Capita report ‘Paradise Lost? The race to maintain Australian living standards' urged the Productivity Commission review into workpl...
↧
Last chance bargaining: Gorgon parties prioritise talks over strike
Principal Gorgon gas project contractor CB&I and unions representing 1,500 workers have agreed to hold three weeks of intensive bargaining meetings before the Fair Work Commission rules on a ballot for workers to take protected industrial action (WF 29/04/2015) . The Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union and the Australian Manufacturing Wor...
↧
↧
Rehab supervisor's failure to check ‘squalid' room a sackable offence
The Fair Work Commission has upheld the dismissal of a psychiatric rehabilitation centre's acting site coordinator who failed to check on the welfare of a resident whose room stank of urine and faeces. Commissioner Bruce Williams heard staff at the Richmond Fellowship in Western Australia had not inspected the resident's room for a number of months...
↧
No settlements allowed on civil penalties: Full Court
The Full Federal Court has held that regulators including Fair Work Building and Construction (FWBC) and the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) can't nominate a fixed penalty or range for civil penalties, even if done by agreement with the defendants. The Full Court went against FWO advice that agreements helped resolve proceedings and that doing away with ...
↧
Child sex charges didn't frustrate employment contract: FWC
The Fair Work Commission has rejected a school's claim a teacher's employment contract was frustrated when he was unable to pass a working-with-children check due to child sex charges. That was because the school had already suspended the teacher at the time the requirement took effect, but it had nevertheless continued his employment. On September...
↧
Editorial Team
Editor: David Marin-Guzman, (02) 8587 7682, david.marin-guzman@thomsonreuters.com . Chief Journalist: Paul Karp. Managing Editor: Peter Schwab. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
↧
↧
ALP ‘conflict of interest' did not prevent loan approval: Riordan
Labor membership did not prevent Electrical Trades Union (ETU) NSW executive members from voting on a half a million dollar loan to the NSW ALP, Fair Work Commissioner and ex-ETU NSW boss Bernie Riordan has argued. The Trade Union Royal Commission grilled Riordan this morning over the $500k loan made on Dec 23, 2010, allegedly without union approva...
↧
Defence dept wins legal representation in bullying case
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has allowed respondents to a stop-bullying application at the Commonwealth defence department permission to be legally represented, but refused applications for de-identification and suppression of the applicant's and respondents' names. Deputy President John Kovacic accepted legal representatives would assist in the ...
↧
FWC raises bar for majority support petitions
The Fair Work Commission has refused a majority support determination (MSD) at Veolia because the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) could not account for the “custody and control” of the petition in the month it was collecting signatures. The decision raises the bar for satisfying the cmn of majority support as a party may n...
↧
