WFD: Former Prime Minister John Howard has called for reintroduction of Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) and lashed out at unions' “effective monopoly” on collective bargaining in a major economic address. Howard made the comments last night (November 17) at the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia's annual dinner i...
Howard calls for return to AWAs
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Bench quashes enterprise award after ruling EA void affects viability
WFD: A Fair Work Commission (FWC) full bench has terminated a 70-year old enterprise award despite support from both employees and the employer and accepting estimations it would lead to compliance costs approaching $1m. Rejectingbuilding materials manufacturer CSR's bid to modernise its enterprise award, thebench - Senior Deputy President Jennifer...
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NUW national promises ‘assistance not intervention' in NSW branch
WFD: The National Union of Workers (NUW) NSW branch has agreed to work with the national office on improving governance at the union in the face of claims exposed by the Trade Union Royal Commission (TURC) that NSW officials and employees had misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, NSW has denied media reports the national office...
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TURC clears Setka after accepting witness credibility was shaky
WFD: The Trade Union Royal Commission (TURC) has stepped back from submissions of improper conduct by Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) Vic secretary John Setka after the credibility of its principle witness collapsed. Last year, senior counsel assisting Jeremy Stoljar had submitted TURC should find subcontractor Andrew Zaf's eviden...
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Jackson tries to cut deal on Federal Court misappropriation findings
WFD: Bankrupt former Health Services Union (HSU) national secretary Kathy Jackson has tried to cut a deal with the union, offering to accept default judgment against her in the union's already successful $1.4m claim, provided findings she misappropriated the money are lifted. The proposal was revealed in Full Federal Court proceedings on November 1...
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AFP raids CFMEU Qld offices
WFD: The Trade Union Royal Commission's (TURC) Australian Federal Police (AFP) taskforce has launched raids on the construction union's Qld branch as part of its investigation into secretary Michael Ravbar's destruction of documents. About 25 police executed the search warrant for the union's Brisbane office from 7am Thursday (Nov 19) and union sou...
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MUA seeks to stall industrial action orders against ship crew
WFD: The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) has sought a stay of an order that the crew of the MV Portland halt their industrial action which is preventing the ship from setting sail. The crew has refused to perform work after ASP Ship Management this month notified them they would be sacked and replaced with an overseas workforce. Fair Work Commiss...
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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 : 314021719885. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
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Diary
Third Biennial Labour Law Conference of the NZ Labour Law Society : November 27. Victoria University, Wellington. Keynote speakers include Dr Virginia Mantouvalou on 'Human Rights at Work', Professor Paul Secunda on superannuation and Professor Anthony Forsyth on the Productivity Commission report. More info here . Financial Review National Policy ...
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ATO explaining ‘productivity savings' not necessary for GFB
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has refused a union bid to force the Australian Tax Office (ATO) to give it information about $184m of productivity savings the ATO identified to offset pay rises. Commissioner Nick Wilson found the information was confidential, too difficult to compile or estimate, or not necessary to bargain in good faith. In its la...
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‘Bitch of Aldi' gets $41k for unfair dismissal
A tough manager who described herself as “the bitch of Aldi” has been awarded the maximum compensation of $41k after she was unfairly sacked over staff bullying complaints. Despite finding the manager inappropriately yelled at a worker, the Fair Work Commission said she had not been given an adequate opportunity to respond to the reason...
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Smoking ban reasonable despite loss of liberty: FWC
The Fair Work Commission has upheld a mining company's total smoking ban on-site, despite acknowledging it is a restriction of workers' personal liberty. The cmn ruled commitments to best practice work health and safety (WHS) in the statutory scheme and the company's enterprise agreement (EA) made the order reasonable. On January 1, 2015 Glencore M...
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Court blocks TURC taskforce investigation of CFMEU Qld
The Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) has again secured an injunction against a raid of its union offices by the Trade Union Royal Commission's (TURC) Australian Federal Police taskforce (WF 19/11/15) . Yesterday afternoon the union lodged an urgent application for judicial review after about 25 police executed a search warrant at i...
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New FWC panel, Federal Court farewells Marshall
Senior Deputy President Jonathan Hamberger is head of the newly-formed Fair Work Commission (FWC) services and mining industry panel, while Vice President Graeme Watson has replaced the retired Justice Alan Boulton as head of the major resources/infrastructure projects panel. FWC President Justice Iain Ross announced the changes this week, effectiv...
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TWU surveillance of driver for unfair dismissal case backfires
The Transport Workers Union (TWU) engaged a private investigator to spy on a waste worker to show individual productivity targets were “unreasonable” and led to a member's unfair dismissal. But the strategy backfired with Fair Work Deputy President Peter Sams finding JJ Richards' target of 171 bins per hour (BPH) was reasonable and slam...
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HR mgr told to learn from ‘Pretty Woman' fails in adverse action claim
The Federal Court has rejected a senior HR manager's claims she was sexually harassed when her boss advised her to “do the Pretty Woman thing” or that her sacking for bullying was unlawful adverse action. Ex-employment relations team leader for the Catholic Education Office (CEO), Karen Alethea Wroughton, filed the claims after the CEO ...
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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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TURC counsel wrong on union fiduciary duties: AWU, academic
Trade Union Royal Commission (TURC) counsel assisting's submissions against union officials suffer from a fatal flaw because union bargaining representatives don't owe fiduciary duties to members, the Australian Workers Union (AWU) and academic Associate Professor Jill Murray have argued. In their submissions on the AWU's deal to keep a Work Choice...
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‘Belittling' depressed translator not adverse action due to unawareness
The Federal Circuit Court has held that allegedly “belittling” a depressed translator by querying her medical certificate and refusing to allow her to return to work for half a day a week were not adverse action because they were reasonable actions which did not prejudice her employment. The court upheld her employer's defence it did no...
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Court rejects Palmer employee claim he was promised $1m a year
Federal MP Clive Palmer did not offer his company's accountant employment on a five-year $5m contract as part of an oral agreement, the Qld Supreme Court has found. Justice John Bond found the accountant, who was paid $100k and then $150k a year, was probably offered a base salary with a discretionary bonus. But the accountant could not prove his &...
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