WFD: Workers have been urged to leave their workplaces on time on Wednesday (November 22), as part of national Go Home On Time Day. The Australia Institute's Centre for Future Work estimates unpaid overtime takes more than $130 billion from household incomes each year. On average full time workers spend six hours per week working unpaid overtime. P...
Go home on time day Wednesday
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Kathy Jackson pleads not guilty to union theft and fraud charges
WFD: Former Health Services Union boss Kathy Jackson has pleaded not guilty to 166 charges of theft and financial deception at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday (November 20). Jackson, who appeared at court with her partner ex-Fair Work Commission Vice President Michael Lawler, will now embark on a criminal trial over allegations she misused $5...
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FWO puts heat on advisors after landmark accessorial liability win
WFD: In a landmark decision on accessorial liability, the Federal Circuit Court has fined an accounting firm for helping an employer underpay workers. In a case brought by the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO), the court fined Ezy Accounting 123 Pty Ltd $53,880 for knowingly processing worker underpayments for its client, Japanese restaurant operator Blue ...
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High Court rejects union bid to bypass RoE rules
WFD: Union officials must hold a valid federal right of entry (RoE) permit even when invited onto a site to assist a health and safety representative (HSR) under a state or territory occupational health and safety (OHS) law, the High Court has reaffirmed ( WF 13/11/2017 ). Refusing Construction Forestry Mining Energy (CFMEU) union official Michael ...
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Couple who fear people trafficking charges fail to suppress their names
WFD: The Federal Circuit Court has refused to suppress the names of two people charged with underpaying four overseas workers, despite their claims the release of their names could expose them to people trafficking charges in the Philippines. Tossing out an interlocutory application by Michael and Rowena Parkes, Judge John O'Sullivan said the "hors...
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MUA to be heard in diving EA despite no representation
WFD: The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) has won the right to be heard regarding an enterprise agreement (EA) covering diving and inspection workers, despite having no formal standing in the matter. The Fair Work Commission had earlier rejected the union's argument it should be granted standing on "procedural fairness" grounds. However, Deputy Pr...
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WA public schools would be 'decimated' by job cuts, unions say
WFD: Funding for some 800 jobs has been slashed from the WA education department's budget as part of a voluntary separation scheme, teaching and public sector unions say. The unions say the cuts will "decimate" public schools across the state. The McGowan government's Voluntary Targeted Separation Scheme, announced in September, aims to remove 3,00...
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Editorial Team
Chief Journalist: Emily Woods. Journalists : Steve Andrew, Rajiv Maharaj. Managing Editor : Peter Schwab. Contact (02) 8587 7681 or peter.schwab@tr.com . Twitter : @WorkforceTR
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Judge hits ‘notorious' cleaning industry wage theft with $510k fine
In a record-breaking fine for the cleaning industry, a former multimillionaire and his wife who ran a Perth cleaning service have been fined $510,840 for underpaying vulnerable foreign workers. It's the biggest ever cleaning industry penalty imposed in a repeat offending case brought by the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO). The case involved 1980s petrol ...
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MUA celebrating historic win in offshore oil and gas
Barely a year after the most “significant decision ever'” in the history of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) ( WF 2/9/2016 ), the union was preparing to celebrate what it describes as landmark finalisation of the enterprise agreements covering 3,000 Australian workers in the offshore oil and gas agreement ( WF 3/3/2017 , WF 3/2/201...
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Court strikes resume Monday, dispute set for FWC mediation
A majority of federal court workers have rejected a new management offer, with 69% voting no in a ballot this week. Workers in the Federal, Family and Federal Circuit courts and the Native Title Tribunal say they will resume striking on Monday (November 27). Union delegates had already rejected the proposal, which offered staff a 3% pay increase on...
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TCFUA show of hands reveals 97% support for super union
At presstime, Australian Electoral Commission scrutineers were collating the results of a secret member ballot on whether to merge the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) and the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA) into a super union ( WF 20/10/2017 ). However, a show of...
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FWC rules Sunday penalty Restaurant Awards to stay at 150%
The Fair Work Commission has ruled Sunday penalty rates in the café and restaurant industry will remain at 150%. The decision comes in the wake of an aborted attempt by employer group Restaurant & Catering Industrial (RCI) to have the rate cut to 125%. RCI was supposed to appear on November 16 before the cmn's full bench four-yearly review of t...
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Woolies warehouse workers win large pay deal
Just days before union members were about to strike, Woolworths came to the table and offered workers a new agreement with better entitlements, the National Union of Workers' (NUW) says. Members had planned a strike for Thursday (November 23) at warehouses in Broadmeadows, Laverton and Barnawartha in Victoria, after the union went to the Fair Work ...
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Queensland votes 2017
As Queenslanders are preparing to vote in tomorrow's state election, the latest poll has placed Labor ahead, but One Nation's preferences could decide the outcome. A Galaxy Poll has Labor at 52% and the Liberal National Party (LNP) at 48%. On the eve of the election, Workforce has analysed the employment policies proposed by each of the three parti...
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Govt to crackdown on super fund transparency in payments to unions
The Federal Government is becoming increasingly concerned about industry superannuation fund payments to union officials. “We are concerned that there is no transparency around the way members' superannuation is being spent,” Financial Services minister Kelly O'Dwyer said in a statement to Workforce . O'Dwyer's comments come in the wake...
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Aerocare successfully blocks ‘scandalous' material in RoE dispute
The Fair Work Commission has partly upheld argument by Aerocare that union material being presented in a dispute over right of entry (RoE) to Sydney Airport was “scandalous” and shouldn't be admitted. In a preliminary hearing, Aerocare challenged a number of opinions, assumptions and alleged hearsay evidence presented by Transport Worke...
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MUA up for massive fines for 2015 strikes fending off ‘existential threat'
The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) is facing significant fines after the Federal Court found it guilty of organising illegal industrial action on the waterfront to fend off what it saw as an “existential threat”. Justice Jayne Jagot's decision, handed down late on Friday, ruled the MUA had breached the Fair Work Act's s417(1) when it...
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Aerocare loses main part of FWC appeal
Airport services provider Aerocare has lost part of a Fair Work Commission (FWC) appeal, after a full bench upheld the original decision that employees covered by the 2017 enterprise agreement (EA) were not fairly chosen, as casual workers were excluded. While that knocked out the EA it gave the parties time to make submissions on whether there was...
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Retail giant to close 300 stores
About 300 Australian fashion retail stores will close up shop in the next three years, many in 2018, putting 1,000 workers out of a job, after Speciality Fashion Group (SFG) announced changes last week. In an announcement to shareholders, SFG chairwoman Anne McDonald said the retail giant's program reducing store numbers from 1,019 to 700 was being...
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