WFD: Labour costs have risen sharply off a low base while productivity continues to slow, the latest National Accounts data show. The Australian Bureau of Statistics recorded real unit labour costs (non-farm) rising 0.6% in the June quarter on a trend basis and 1.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis. That followed negative growth in the March quarter ...
Labour costs up, productivity slows down
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Employer had free run to set home base: full court
WFD: In a decision that could save an employer up to $30k per worker per year in travel entitlements, the Federal Full Court has held ALS Industrial could declare its company base to be wherever it performed work, despite 15 years of counting its headquarters as its base. The case demonstrated the limits of past practice when an employer continues ...
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DFAT, MBA to give evidence on China deal inquiry on Monday
WFD: As unions continue their campaign against the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) and the Federal Government pressures Labor leader Bill Shorten to support it, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has detailed what it maintains are the requirements attached to the deal's controversial labour agreements. In an informatio...
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Labor will move to oust Heydon with Senate motion
WFD: Labor will proceed next week with a planned Senate motion asking the Governor General to remove Trade Union Royal Commission chief Dyson Heydon due to apprehended bias for agreeing to speak at a Liberal Party fundraiser. Shadow attorney general Mark Dreyfus made the announcement as Dyson Heydon r ejectedthree union applications asking him to r...
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Love hurts: Full Court cuts payout over MUA closed shop
WFD: The Federal Full Court has slashed in half the more than $720k in compensation awarded to a couple who were denied crew jobs because they were not union members after the court considered the initial order did not sufficiently take into account the effect of spousal separation at sea. The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) had appealed orders f...
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Continuing fixed term contract before dismissal costs hospital $20k
WFD: The Fair Work Commission has ordered a hospital to pay $20k compensation to a doctor it sacked without proper notice and just two months after the expiry of his fixed-term contract. Commissioner Nick Wilson found the hospital had continued the doctor's employment after his fixed-term contract, which meant he was entitled to three months' notic...
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Heydon to stay, ‘no rationale' for bias claims
WFD: Dyson Heydon has declared he will stay on as commissioner of the Trade Union Royal Commission, defiantly rejecting unions' bid to disqualify himself on grounds of apprehended bias. The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), with the Australian Workers Union (AWU) and the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU), had sought to have...
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Melbourne train drivers on strike after FWC rejects safety concerns
Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) members have gone on a four hour strike at Metro Trains Melbourne today, after the Fair Work Commission (FWC) rejected the company's bid to terminate the strike due to health and safety fears. RTBU members are off work from 10am until 2pm today (September 4), following a stop work meeting between 3am and 4am yesterday...
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Gorgon strike called off as 23:10 roster precedent agreed on
Unions have achieved a breakthrough in the Gorgon gas negotiations, reaching agreement on a new industry standard for fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) rosters at 23 days on, 10 days off. The Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU), the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and the Electrical Trades Union called off today's 24-hour strike at...
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Greens push to ban pay gag clauses
The Greens will this month introduce legislation to ban gag clauses in contracts that prevent workers from discussing their pay with each other. Using today's Equal Pay Day to announce the party was finalising the Bill, Greens Senator and deputy leader Larissa Waters said gag clauses - common in the private sector - left womenearning less by coveri...
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Ex-competition boss appointed to assess 7-Eleven underpayments
7-Eleven Australia has appointed the former head of the ACCC - and strong critic of the franchise - to head an independent panel charged with examining claims of systemic underpayments at its franchisee stores. 7-Eleven today announced inaugural ACCC chair Professor Allan Fels would convene its Independent Franchisee Review and Staff Claims Panel w...
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Stock options don't eliminate start-up's Fair Work obligations: Court
An employee who agreed to initially work for free for a start-up company with US links has won close to five years' back-pay, after the Federal Circuit Court found the parties later formed an employment relationship that was subject to Australian law. Judge Rolf Driver accepted that the oral agreement the parties first struck - for the woman to beg...
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Court warns ‘sloppy' United Voice to prove claims of 125 hour work week
The Federal Circuit Court (FCC) has blasted United Voice (UV) ACT for “sloppy”, “extremely shoddy” and vague claims security company Secom was involved in $200k in underpayments, including an “extravagant” claim that an employee worked 125 hours a week for three months. Judge Warwick Neville awarded costs against...
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CFMEU failed to investigate bribes despite rumours
The Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) ACT branch investigated claims rogue organiser Fihi Kivalu established a labour hire company while still at the union and did not properly complete enterprise agreement requirements, the Trade Union Royal Commission (TURC) has heard. But various CFMEU witnesses said the union did not investigate...
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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. Product Code : 314021719775. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
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Diary
Productivity Commission workplace relations inquiry public hearings : Bendigo (September 4), Hobart (Sept 7), Melbourne (Sept 8), Canberra (Sept 11), Perth (Sept 14), Adelaide (Sept 15), Sydney (Sept 17), Ipswich (Sept 21). More info here .
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‘Right to work' laws make unions work harder: Minerals Council
Union officials need to “feel the heat” of competition to provide the best outcomes for their members, as illustrated by US ‘right to work' (RTW) laws which “make unions work harder”, according to a report for the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA). Castalia Strategic Advisors report on Australia's workplace relations...
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Boral on hook for costs after flaws exposed in damages case
The Vic Supreme Court has ordered Boral to pay the construction union's “substantial” legal costs after the concreter sought to amend its case in the middle of its $20m damages trial. Boral acted after a Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) commissioned expert report dealt a blow to its secondary boycott damages case agains...
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Doctor forced to pay $200k for lost profits over breach of contract
A doctor who abandoned a contract to provide medical services at a walk-in clinic must pay the company which ran the centre $234k damages, the Qld Supreme Court has ruled. The case highlights the fact when in breach of contract an independent contractor can be liable for lost profits for as long as the employing party takes to replace them with ano...
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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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