WFD: The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has warned unions risk a return to falling membership density in the event of a "serious economic or political shock" if they do not increase numbers from static growth. The ACTU's 2012 Urgency and Opportunity report released this week reveals membership growth has been "treading water" since 2006 ...
Union membership trends 'must change to meet rising job growth'
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FWA rejects EA because employer failed to give union rep rights notice
WFD: Fair Work Australia has ruled notice of union default representation is an essential requirement in giving notice for representational rights before negotiating enterprise agreements (EA). Commissioner Susan Booth found omission of such notice rendered an agreement invalid and so rejected Ostwald Bros Civil Pty Ltd's EA, negotiated with the Au...
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Construction drives AAWIs to 4.5%
WFD: Construction agreements helped drive the average annualised wage increase (AAWI) for federal collective agreements in the March quarter to 4.5%, up from 3.9% in December. The AAWI for all wage agreements (22,913) remained steady at 4%. The private sector AAWI was 4.6%, up 0.5% on December. The public sector AAWI rose 0.3% to 4%. The Department...
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Agents awarded $500k in unpaid annual and long-service leave
The Federal Court has ordered Ace Insurance to pay $500,000 in unpaid annual and long-service leave to five former Combined Insurance Company of America agents wrongly paid as independent contractors and not “employees”. The largest single amount ordered was $325,671 in unpaid annual leave to a worker of seven years found to have been e...
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Diary
Western Australia IR Society conference: August 3-4, Quay West Bunker Bay Resort. See website . Queensland IR Society conference: August 9-10, Jupiter Hotel & Casino, Gold Coast, Qld. Conference brochure here. 20 th annual labour law Conference: August 13. See website . Thomson Reuters workplace relations and safety law masterclass: Melbourne: ...
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ACTU warns of ‘difficulties' over review recommendations
The Australian Council of Trade Unions has voiced serious concern about four Fair Work Act (FW Act) review panel recommendations, including proposed reversals of JJ Richards and Barclay v Bendigo TAFE. Speaking at yesterday's annual Ron McCallum debate, ACTU assistant secretary Tim Lyons labelled the review report a “repudiation of the frankl...
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Review okays Act - rejects employer claims, reverses union gains
The Fair Work Act Review panel has challenged JJ Richards and Barclay v Bendigo TAFE precedents by recommending changes that prohibit protected action ballot orders before bargaining has begun and ruling the “subjective intention” is the central consideration for alleged adverse action. In its report released today, the review panel - P...
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Shorten pleased, but Abetz says review panel flunks fair-dinkum test
WFD: Federal workplace relations minister Bill Shorten said he was "particularly pleased" with the Fair Work Act (FW Act) review panel's finding the legislation had not hampered productivity, which the Opposition and business groups had persistently argued in the past two years. At a press conference following the report's release yesterday afterno...
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Lend Lease strikes over but fate of equal pay subbie clause unclear
Construction giant Lend Lease is back in talks with the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) following 48-hour stoppages at more than 20 major projects nationwide in the fortnight. It's understood Lend Lease has tabled an offer of 5% annual pay increases over four years. A Lend Lease spokesperson confirmed negotiations had resumed and ...
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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 / Helen Jones. Product code: 314021718325.
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Fair Work Review okays Act - rejects employer claims, reverse union gains
The Fair Work Act Review panel has challenged JJ Richards and Barclay v Bendigo TAFE precedents by recommending changes that prohibit protected action ballot orders before bargaining has begun and ruling the “subjective intention” is the central consideration for alleged adverse action. In its report released today, the review panel - P...
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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. Twitter: @WorkforceTR .
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Fed Court considers costs against employee with fake first aid cert
Federal Court Justice Dennis Cowdroy has invited submissions on costs after finding against a manager who claimed he had been dismissed for raising a complaint about building works at his employer's premises. The employer discovered post-dismissal that the manager did not have a first aid certificate as he had claimed and, therefore, should never h...
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FWO snares global pest control giant for $350k underpayment
The Fair Work Ombudsman has found pest control giant Rentokill, with 70,000 employees worldwide, underpaid almost 400 Australian workers more than $350,000. Acting on a single March 2010 complaint from a service technician in Adelaide, the FWO discovered Rentokill Initial Pty Ltd-owned Pink Hygiene Solutions underpaid workers in South Australia, NS...
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FWA finds Cochlear breached GFB in surface bargaining case
In a much anticipated decision on surface bargaining, Fair Work Australia has found biotech company Cochlear was not bargaining in good faith when it delayed its response to a union proposal by more than six months and refused the union access to its lunchroom. Commissioner Helen Cargill granted three of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union's...
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Coalition considers unfair dismissal reforms
The Coalition is considering opening up the unfair dismissals jurisdiction to costs orders to deter “frivolous” applications. Opposition spokesperson for industrial relations Senator Eric Abetz confirmed to Workforce Daily he was considering proposals requiring Fair Work Australia to make determinations “on the papers” for u...
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Full bench rejects costs against applicants seeking ‘go away' money
A Fair Work Australia full bench has quashed a cost order in an unfair dismissal case after finding the applicants could not be found to have behaved vexatiously if they were engaging in an exercise of “brinkmanship”. The bench ruled Commissioner Ingrid Asbury erred when she found employees Lisa and Tony Holland had a “collateral ...
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Ai Group slams FW Act Review in first detailed response
The Fair Work Act Review "recommendations fall short of what is required to address the key problems in the Act,” the Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox has said. Willox said the review panel did not address tighter limits on bargaining content - “perhaps the most important change that needs to be made to the agreeme...
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‘Biggest security guard strike in history' kicks off in Melbourne
United Voice has applied to Fair Work Australia to “revive” conciliation talks with security company MSS, UV Victorian branch assistant secretary Ben Redford told Workforce Daily as more than 250 MSS guards started industrial action at sites across Melbourne today. The union and MSS have been at loggerheads since enterprise agreement ta...
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Qld firefighter strike stalled due to defective notice & FW Act transition
The Queensland Industrial Relations Commission has blocked strike action by the United Firefighters' Union (UFU), finding the union's notice to the state government lacked clarity. The UFU Qld branch had sought to strike from August 1, 2012. It provided the govt with notice of its intention on June 7 as per s175 of the state's Industrial Relations ...
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