Chief Journalist: Emily Woods. Journalists : Steve Andrew, Rajiv Maharaj. Managing Editor : Peter Schwab. Contact (02) 8587 7681 or peter.schwab@tr.com . Twitter : @WorkforceTR
Editorial Team
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Company director who launched rival firm not guilty of misconduct
A founding director of an office fitout company who left to form a rival organisation was not sacked for gross misconduct as argued by his former employer - and was entitled to the full benefits of his employment contract, the Western Australia Supreme Court has found. However, the employer has prevented Christian Formby from working in competition...
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Unions fear for Amazon workers, but it 'respects associates' rights'
Inside a warehouse in Melbourne's south eastern suburbs, the true story behind Amazon's Australian launch can be found. About 90 workers in the Dandenong “fulfilment centre” are toiling away on casual contracts, employed by labour hire contractors, the National Union of Workers (NUW) says. “That's about pushing the risk away from ...
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Lawyers struggle to serve documents on former Cash staffer
The senior advisor to workplace relations minister Senator Michaelia Cash who resigned after admitting to leaking details of the Australia Workers' Union (AWU) raids to media cannot be found, lawyers told the Federal Court in Melbourne this afternoon. Workforce Daily attended an interlocutory hearing just before press time, where AWU lawyer Mark Ho...
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Federal Court sets up $150m backpay bonanza for apprentices
WFD: A full court of the Federal Court has knocked back a multi-employer group appeal and ruled wages for Queensland apprentices are covered by national modern awards and not lesser-paying state awards. The decision affects more than 4,000 apprentices in Queensland with unions saying they will seek up to $150m in backpay (see below) . The appeal ag...
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Aerocare loses main part of FWC appeal
WFD: 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 ther...
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Retail giant to close 300 stores
WFD: 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 ...
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MUA up for massive fines for 2015 strikes fending off ‘existential threat'
WFD: 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) wh...
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RBA fingers employer belt-tightening for low wages growth
WFD: The Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia Philip Lowe has said employers are to blame for the nation's extraordinary low wage growth. In a speech to business economists last week, Lowe said employers were not paying as well as they used to despite a tightening jobs market. He noted the wage price index had increased by just 2% over the pas...
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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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Labor on brink of victory in Qld
WFD: Queensland's labour hire and industrial manslaughter legislation look set to stay, with Labor four seats from victory as vote counting continues on press day (November 27). At press time Labor had won 43 seats, the Liberal National Party 35 and Katter's Australian Party two. The official Qld election result may not be known for several days al...
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Lift workers win increased pay offer
Eighty lift repairers in Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong are set to receive a 12% pay rise over three years after their employer and union reached agreement. Lift maintenance firm ThyssenKrupp's offer also includes a superannuation increase from 10% to 12%; and a redundancy trust payment increase from $66 to $74 a person. Electrical Trades Union (...
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ABCC confirms taxpayers slugged $418k for Hadgkiss legal bill
The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) paid $418,260 in legal fees for disgraced former head Nigel Hadgkiss, it was revealed at Senate Estimates this afternoon. Hadgkiss resigned in September after admitting to misrepresenting union right-of-entry rights on the ABCC website and pamphlets in 2013 ( WF 28/09/2017 ) . Federal Court...
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VICT hires IR gun Stuart Wood QC to seek Webb Dock injunction
Victorian International Container Terminal (VICT) has enlisted heavy hitting industrial lawyer Stuart Wood QC to argue its case for an injunction against what it says is an illegal union-organised blockade at Webb Dock in Melbourne. The Victorian Supreme Court hearing before Justice Michael McDonald was underway at presstime. “We are seeking ...
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Cash silent re staff at Senate estimates
Workplace relations minister Senator Michaelia Cash has refused to answer questions about her staff during a grilling in a spill-over estimates hearing on press day, with the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) and Registered Organisations Commission (ROC). Cash claimed “public interest immunity” and refused to ask questions by Labor Senators Dou...
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FWC orders text, web browsing records in church porn sacking
The Fair Work Commission has issued discovery orders for the SMS text and website browsing history of a Victory Church pastor sacked for using his work mobile phone to visit “lascivious” websites for “sexual purposes”. The church sacked well-known Gympie identity Pastor Kevin Dailly in June after a senior church elder google...
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Labour hire licensing passes in SA
South Australia has become the latest state to enact labour hire legislation, passing a bill that makes it illegal for labour hire providers to operate without a licence. Under the new law, passed on November 29, it is also unlawful for employers to engage unlicensed operators. SA industrial relations minister and deputy premier John Rau said the l...
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FWC freezes out Dutch cold storage giant EA due to minor NERR defect
The Fair Work Commission has followed through on its general and specific warnings and knocked back two enterprise agreements (EA) for the minor technical mistake of including a manager's name in the notice of employee representational rights (NERR). The cmn has no discretion to overlook NERR technical deficiencies, and is obliged to follow the FWC...
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Worker wage theft woes wider than thought
One in 10 Australian workers are paid below the minimum wage, almost half are not paid for overtime, and 15% are aware they are paid more than their migrant colleagues, new research reveals. Workforce management software provider Kronos Australia conducted its own research, after a recent study revealed the extent of wage theft in the country's mig...
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Oaky North lockout enters 144th day
The Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) says workers at the Oaky North coal mine are standing firm despite Glencore's decision this week to extend its lockout until December 5 and threatening to continue it over Christmas. Dec 5 will bring to 148 the number of days workers have been locked out. Workers are opposing company attempts to...
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