WFD: The Victorian Government has introduced legislation to give portable long service leave (LSL) to community services, security and contract cleaning workers. Vic IR minister Natalie Hutchins said the Long Service Leave Bill 2017 will see workers entitled to LSL after being employed for seven years in their industry, "irrespective of the number ...
Security, cleaners, community services gain portable LSL
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Historic 'super union' to begin without bill's interference
WFD: Employers say "time is running out" for the Federal Government's Ensuring Integrity bill, on the eve of the super union's official amalgamation date. On March 27 the Construction Forestry, Maritime, Mining Energy Union (CFMMEU) officially becomes a registered organisation. The govt appears to have failed in gaining Senate crossbench support fo...
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Workers resort to online fundraising as Doughnut Time collapses
WFD: Victoria's Young Workers Centre (YWC) has turned to online fundraising for former Doughnut Time employees as many were migrants or on working visas and did not qualify for a scheme to provide lost wages to workers, when an employer enters bankruptcy or liquidation. YWC coordinator Keelia Fitzpatrick said it was supporting five backpackers who ...
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FWC bench 4-yearly review increases real estate award rates
WFD: A four-yearly review of modern awards has increased the minimum rates under the Real Estate Industry Award 2010, after finding the existing rates "undervalued" workers. A Fair Work Commission full bench - Vice President Adam Hatcher, Deputy President Ingrid Asbury and Commissioner David Gregory - ordered the changes be implemented by April 2, ...
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Wine country workers underpaid
WFD: Half of 70 businesses audited in one of Australia's most popular wine regions are not complying with workplace laws, a Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) report has found. The FWO recovered more than $11,000 in unpaid wages for 12 workers in South Australia's Barossa Valley, during a recent audit. FWO inspectors visited towns including Nuriootpa, Willi...
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Industrial action threats over Alcoa plan to remove conveners
The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) has labelled Alcoa's attempt to remove union convener positions from its Portland, Victoria and WA sites “a slap in the face”, given it comes 15 months after the union helped to secure the Portland plant's future. The union is threatening industrial action unless Alcoa abandons plans to cut one full-t...
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Federal Court orders Howard's postie to pay costs
WFD: In a further blow for an Australian Post employee sacked for charging his co-workers fees to act as their workplace representative, the Federal Court has ordered he pay his employer's costs in his latest case. In February this year, Justice Geoffrey Flick rejected postie Quentin Cook's latest bid for reinstatement ( WF 19/02/18) . Aust Post ha...
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Workforce Easter publication dates
The Workforce weekly edition has been published today (March 29) as there will be no editions of Workforce or Workforce Daily on Good Friday, March 30, or next week. Publication resumes on Monday, April 9. The Workforce team wishes readers a happy and safe Easter break.
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Editorial Team
Editor : Rajiv Maharaj, rajiv.maharaj@tr.com . Chief Journalist: Emily Woods, emily.woods@tr.com . Journalist: Steve Andrew. Managing Editor : Peter Schwab. Contact: (02) 8587 7454. Twitter : @WorkforceTR
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Govt ‘did not get numbers' to pass Ensuring Integrity bill
The Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) says it was “very disappointed” the Federal Government failed to gain crossbench support to pass the Ensuring Integrity bill this week. Federal workplace relations minister Craig Laundy told Workforce he “reached out to the crossbench” to see if the govt had enough support f...
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Setka criminal blackmail charge set for committal hearing on May 7
Controversial construction union officials John Setka and Shaun Reardon have lost a Victorian Supreme Court of Appeal bid to have criminal blackmail charges dropped. Within hours of the decision on Wednesday (March 29), the Melbourne Magistrates Court set down a 13-day committal hearing, starting May 7. Police charged Construction Forestry Mining E...
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Qantas denied external lawyers in square off against serial litigant
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has rejected Qantas's claim its IR team needs help facing serial unfair dismissal litigant Ross Kennedy, knocking back the company's request for legal representation. Kennedy has a notorious and storied history of failed unfair dismissal claims against his one-time employer, the Department of Industry. The FWC has pre...
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Landmark decision gives workers first dibs when companies go bust
IR minister Craig Laundy has hailed a landmark decision (below) , which gives priority to worker entitlements in a company liquidation. The Full Federal Court decision in Jones (Liquidator) v Matrix Partners Pty Ltd, in the matter of Killarnee Civil & Concrete Contractors Pty Ltd (in liquidation) - the Killarnee decision - settles a disputed ar...
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Peace breaks out in coal heartland with BMA and Oaky North deals
WFD: After more than two years of bitter disputation, the war between two major coal companies and their workers over pay and conditions in Australia's coal heartland is set to end with deals struck for two, new enterprise agreements (EAs). In a vote on Tuesday (March 27), 75% of workers at Glencore's Oaky North mine in Queensland's Bowen Basin end...
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AMWU to junk divisions in radical overhaul to revive membership
WFD: The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU) will radically overhaul its governance structure by getting rid of its four divisions, the union has confirmed to Workforce Daily . The changes were greenlit at a special national conference last week, and will take effect from July 1 next year. The manufacturing, printing, food and vehicle ma...
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Outlook worsens in weather dispute, as bosses again reject conciliation
WFD: Weather workers could now take rolling strikes "at any time" as their dispute with Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) management "enters a new phase", the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) says. The industrial dispute is now in its fourth year, after the previous enterprise agreement expired in June 2014. Since July last year workers have been...
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Social media campaign targets unpaid internships
WFD: "Social media shaming" can help educate employers on their legal responsibilities when advertising for unpaid work experience, the Young Workers Centre (YWC) says. Using Facebook, the YWC has been systematically naming and shaming employers advertising unlawful internships on job sites. In the past two weeks the centre has targeted a three-mon...
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Paper factory strike suspension 'rewards' employer, not union
WFD: The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU) has successfully appealed a Fair Work Commission (FWC) decision to suspend strike action to allow for a "cooling off" period, with a full bench finding it "rewarded" the employer for refusing to bargain with the union. Although the bench decision will have no practical bearing on the parties, ...
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VTHC push to cage Victorian employers for wage theft
WFD: Victorian Trades Hall Council is calling on the state government to make "deliberate and dishonest" wage theft a criminal offence. Trades Hall this week launched a campaign with the Young Workers Centre (YWC) urging the Vic Labor govt to amend the state's Crimes Act (1958) to make employer wage theft "a criminal offence punishable by imprisonm...
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TWU stages protest over alleged courier underpayments
WFD: Transport Workers' Union (TWU) NSW claims Direct Couriers is only paying its drivers $38 superannuation a week, and using “deceptive tactics” to underpay wages. The union staged a snap protest outside the company's Banksmeadow NSW headquarters on April 11. “Direct Couriers is stealing wages from drivers and in so doing, is ta...
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