Improved school resourcing would help reverse the effects of rising workloads and disenchantment among over-worked teachers to stabilise declining retention rates, the Australian Education Union (AEU) has said. The union said the results of its national survey of 7,000 public school teachers revealed the need for government intervention as it revea...
Teachers struggling with towering workloads: study
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Possible AGL Loy Yang lock-out looms after CFMEU PABO win
AGL LoyYang Pty Ltd has threatened to take “employer response action” against Construction Forestry Energy Mining Union (CFMEU) members after the union won the right to conduct a protected action ballot order (PABO). Workforce Daily understands AGL Loy yang is considering locking out workers if they decide to strike. On October 28, Fair...
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Redundancies should be from ‘whole group': FWC full bench
A Fair Work Commission (FWC) full bench has quashed a ruling on the meaning of a redundancy provision in an enterprise agreement (EA), acknowledging its interpretation “may result in inconvenient outcomes” for the employer. Vice President Joe Catanzariti, Deputy President Reg Hamilton and Commissioner Christopher Platt held a clause in ...
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Vic firefighters awarded pay rise despite no end in EA dispute
The Victorian Government has announced the state's career firefighters will receive two pay rises this year after the stoush over their enterprise agreement returned to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) last week ( WF 25/10/2016 ). Vic emergency services minister James Merlino announced in state parliament the wage rises for Melbourne Fire Brigade (MF...
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Editorial Team
Editor: Annie Lawson (03) 9286 1411 Chief Journalist: Gerard May Journalist: Bernadette McBride Managing Editor: Peter Schwab Twitter: @WorkforceTR
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CEPU flays Reith over legal aid
The CEPU has complained to WR Minister Peter Reith about legal aid provided for a bid by the Postal Delivery Officers' Union to register as an enterprise union. Jim Metcher, CEPU NSW (postal and comm branch) sec said the support was extraordinary at a time when there have been legal aid cutbacks. But the PDOU's registered officer, Quentin Cook, a K...
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Postal workers enterprise union is a 'nullity': IRC
The long-running bid by Liberal Party identity Quentin Cook to set up a rival postal workers' union under the WR Act's enterprise union provisions has come to nothing, with the IRC refusing its registration application. Vice Pres Tony McIntyre found the Postal Delivery Officers Union (PDOU), which was to operate in the Penrith area of NSW, “a...
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PDOU 'locked out' of IR club
The unregistered Postal Delivery Officers Union says it has been the victim of an effective "lockout" - "like other enterprise unions" - in not being registered or allowed to represent its members at the AIRC. Public officer Quentin Cook told Workforce that the IR system is "a club" you're out of the club" and the PDOU had been "frozen out". Vice P...
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Full bench dismisses postal worker turned worker rep appeal
A Fair Work Commission (FWC) full bench has dismissed a postal worker's appeal against a decision refusing him reinstatement after he was dismissed for working as a paid employee representative for a company he established. The FWC full bench - Vice President Adam Hatcher, Deputy President Richard Clancy and Commissioner Tanya Cirkovic - found post...
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Company called cops on AMIEU organisers for entering lunch room
Australia's largest family-owned meat-processing company has brought in the police following a dispute with Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union (AMIEU) officials over site visits. AMIEU federal secretary Graham Smith told Workforce Daily that Thomas Foods International called police after two union organisers visited the company's Murray Bri...
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Ex-Vic police assoc boss Paul Mullett ordered to pay Nixon's costs
Former Police Association boss Paul Mullett has been ordered to pay costs after he lost a Victorian Supreme Court case against ex-Victoria Police chief commissioner Christine Nixon who he claimed subjected him to a malicious campaign to have him ousted ( WF 2/9/2016 ). Justice Terry Forrest said Mullett “should have known his case was weak...
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Bar raised on what is ‘reasonable' directions to take leave: FWC
The Fair Work Commission has refused to order a transport company to give more than seven days' notice when directing employees to take annual leave, but noted that the four yearly modern award review had raised the bar on what was “reasonable”. In a dispute with Toll Holdings, the Transport Workers' Union sought an order requiring the ...
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First Australian workplace investigators association to launch
An association claiming to be the first representing workplace investigators in Australasia is to have Commissioner Nicholas Wilson speakingat its official launch on November 8. The Australasian Association of Workplace Investigators ( AAWI ) saysits mission is to promote quality impartial workplace investigations while providing support to its mem...
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Workers unfairly sacked over conflict with manager
Two farm workers were unfairly dismissed after the employer denied them the chance to respond to a confrontation with a manager, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has found. Commissioner Julius Roe submitted Grandview Poultry failed to warn David and Julie Bilton they could be sacked at a May 10, 2016 meeting set up to discuss tensions with Yianni Dro...
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Editorial Team
Editor: Annie Lawson (03) 9286 1411. Chief Journalist: Gerard May. Journalist: Bernadette McBride . Managing Editor: Peter Schwab. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
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Worker unfairly fired for raising ombudsmen and safety concerns
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has found a hospital cafe kitchen hand was unfairly dismissed because his employer fired him when he raised work health and safety (WHS) concerns about a long-term greasy floor and contacted the Fair Work Ombudsmen (FWO) about underpayment issues. Big Daddy Investments Pty Ltd claimed it dismissed kitchen hand Phillip...
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Sacked public servant loses Fed Full Court appeal
A Federal Full Court has dismissed a sacked public servant's bid to delay an appeal hearing following a lengthy legal attempt to progress his unfair dismissal claim. The Federal Full Court - Justices Geoffrey Flick, Jayne Jagot and Robert Bromwich - found former federal industry department worker Ross Kennedy's appeal against Justice Robert Buchana...
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Staff reject CSIRO draft EA
Nearly three-quarters of voting staff at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have voted against a proposed enterprise agreement (EA) that the Commonwealth Public Sector Union (CPSU) claimed stripped legal protections and workplace rights. The union said 70% voted against the CSIRO Enterprise Agreement 2016-2020 ...
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FWC finds MUA misrepresented to members
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has ordered the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) to refrain from misrepresenting its bargaining position with workers. Commissioner Danny Cloghan said “MUA strayed from reality and gave a false impression to both its members and the media as to the status of the vessel operators' wage offer” during enterp...
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Senators throw IR reforms in doubt
The Federal Government's industrial relations reform agenda has been dealt a blow after constitutional questions emerged about the election of former SA Family First senator Bob Day's and WA One Nation Senator Rod Culleton. Day resigned yesterday (November 1) after the govt queried his financial interests in the company that owns the building that ...
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