Despite union claims of a purported disproportionate rise in casual employment, new ABS data has revealed it has declined proportionately compared to previous years. The ABS Forms of Employment survey shows "the number of casuals in the workforce is increasing … however it is increasing at a rate lower than that of all employed persons". The ...
Casual rates declining: ABS
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Qantas demark dispute over new engineer classification
Four Qantas unions have become embroiled in a demarcation dispute over the coverage of a proposed new class of licensed engineers at the airline. The ACTU and Fair Work Australia have been called on to deal with the dispute which threatens the membership of maintenance workers and licensed engineers. Qantas is allegedly seeking talks with the Austr...
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Abetz lampoons Govt on IR, floats FWA Act review mark II
Opposition WR spokesperson Senator Eric Abetz says the Coalition is thinking about conducting its own review of the Fair Work Act should it win government. In a speech at the Australian Industry Group PIR conference titled 'Just another day in paradise - the union boss Wonderland', Abetz dismissed the current review as an exercise in political expe...
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Vic CPSU slams 'budget from hell'
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) says public service job cuts announced in the Vic budget will cripple services in a state which already has the lowest public servant numbers against population ratio in the country. In a budget some commentators say is a throwback to the Kennett era when 30,000 public service jobs were axed, Treasurer K...
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Editorial team
Editor: Rajiv Maharaj, (03) 8684 2139, rajiv.maharaj@thomsonreuters.com . Chief Journalist: David Marin-Guzman. Managing Editor: Peter Schwab.
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Master chef fails in adverse action claim despite unpaid entitlements
An executive chef fired by text message after he allegedly complained about cash-in-hand wages and the unlawful selling of alcohol has lost his adverse action claim but won compensation for unpaid wages and entitlements. However, in a detailed consideration of liability under the Fair Work Act, the court found the sole head of the business that own...
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Federal Court flags jurisdictional difficulties with HSUE intervention
The Federal Court has raised jurisdictional hurdles to the Federal Government filing its unprecedented application to place the Health Services Union East into administration on the grounds it is dysfunctional. On press day, Justice Geoffrey Flick questioned whether a federal court had jurisdiction over a state-registered organisation or even wheth...
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‘Game over' for HSU if administrator fails
Speaking to reporters outside the Federal Court (see above) , acting HSU national president Chris Brown said if the applications to appoint an administrator for HSU East fail it will be “game over” for the HSU as a whole. “If the appointment of an administrator to the East branch doesn't work, I think there's been so much reputati...
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Services sector slumps to three-year low
The services sector has recorded its biggest slump in three years, with a sharp decline in new orders and sales. The Australian Industry Group/ Commonweath Bank Performance of Services Index for April dropped 7.4 points to 39.6 (readings below 50% represent a contraction). The strongest declines were in finance and insurance, personal and recreatio...
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WA oil project contractor dodges million dollar plus bonus payout
The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) has failed it its bid to trigger a million dollar plus bonus windfall for workers replacing sub-sea pipes on Woodside Energy's Cossack Wanaea Lambert Hermes oil field project off Western Australia. The union argued contractor Offshore Marine Services (OMS) was obliged to pay 40 workers more than $200 a day each...
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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.
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Miners top wages list
Miners are the “new elite” of Australia's workforce, out-earning workers in other industries by an average of almost $500 per week, according to a new report . The Suncorp Bank Wages Report found miners (dubbed ‘fluoro-collar' workers in the report for the fluorescent safety vests characteristic of mining sites) along with many bl...
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Federal Ct suspends penalties on striking Pluto workers
The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) has failed to convince the Federal Court not to suspend penalties imposed on 1,336 workers who took illegal strike action at the Pluto site in Karratha, Western Australia in late 2009 and early 2010 ( WF17884 , WF1712 ). Federal Court Justice Neil McKerracher imposed suspended penalties ran...
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Parliament to probe AEC's findings on Thomson's campaign spending
WFD: A Federal Parliamentary inquiry has been set up to look at the findings of an Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) analysis of the Fair Work Australia report into the Health Services Union national office. The AEC analysis contradicted the FWA report in that it found most of embattled MP Craig Thomson's campaign spending for the seat of Dobel...
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Government says carbon tax no reason to delay min wage increase
WFD: The Federal Government has told Fair Work Australia's Annual Wage Review panel it should not defer a minimum wage increase from its July 1, 2012 start date because of the introduction of the carbon tax and its corresponding household assistance package. In a submission lodged with the panel on Monday (May 21), the govt said there was no incons...
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Visy took adverse action when deducting pay from striking workers
WFD: Paper manufacturing giant Visy breached adverse action laws by deducting wages for shifts lost due to protected industrial action, the Federal Magistrate's Court (FMC) has found. The FMC found s470 of the Fair Work Act did not allow Visy Paper Pty Ltd to make the deductions that were part of aggregated wages and, using the test under Barclay ,...
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Costs shield: ‘All bets are off'
Analysis: The recent CFMEU v CSBP Federal Full Court judgment appears to have introduced a dramatic change to the test of awarding costs in industrial matters and has sparked a debate among the IR legal community on its ramifications (WF18223) . If the principles applied in CSBP are correct, one prominent IR practitioner has told Workforce parties ...
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Editorial team
Editor: Rajiv Maharaj, (03) 8684 2139, rajiv.maharaj@thomsonreuters.com . Chief Journalist: David Marin-Guzman. Managing Editor: Peter Schwab. Product code: 314021718225.
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Cracks appearing at FWA?
Comment: The increasing pressure on Fair Work Australia from many fronts appears to be starting to tell, with signs of disquiet and disagreement among tribunal members. The tribunal itself had been kept separate from growing criticism over the Craig Thomson investigation and time it took to investigate it, with the focus on GM Bernadette O'Neill an...
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No pro bono: Jackson to hold public fundraisers to pay Harmers Lawyers
WFD: HSU national secretary Kathy Jackson has clarified public statements employment law firm Harmers Workplace Lawyers is working for her pro bono. That is not the case, Jackson said in an email to Workforce Daily . On Monday night May 21), Jackson told the ABC's 7.30 Report Harmers - an employment law firm said to have strong Liberal Party connec...
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