The Industrial Relations Thread

[jenny]

Pub fined for forcing worker on to AWA
September 19, 2007

A HOBART pub has been fined $35,000 after the Federal Magistrates Court found its owner and manager forced a 19-year-old worker to sign an Australian Workplace Agreement (AWA).

The total penalty was $35,250 on the company trading as Granada Tavern, due to actions taken by pub owner Michael Hibberd and general manager Jocelyn Berechree.

Magistrate Philip Burchardt said the behaviour of Mr Hibberd and Ms Berechree towards the young woman was bad.

"It was intended to, and I have no doubt did, place a great deal of strain on a young woman in a completely disempowered situation," he said in his judgment.

Workplace Ombudsman Nicholas Wilson said the decision and the penalty were a victory for workers, especially the young employed in the hotel and hospitality industry.
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[DIEHARD]

-> IR Thread

[Nathalie]

If the government, pollies etc are working for us then does that mean we can put them on AWAs?

[DIEHARD]

Receptionist sacking investigated

QUEENSLAND'S workplace ombudsman is investigating the sacking of a Cairns receptionist two months before she was due to take long-service leave.

The woman was dismissed for reasons of misconduct, reportedly two months prior to her taking her 10-year long-service leave believed to be worth about $6000.

The unfair dismissal laws that would usually come into effect in such cases may have been negated due to the reasons for the sacking and the fact the company employs fewer than 100 employers.

Queensland's workplace ombudsman Don Brown travelled to Cairns today to meet with both parties in the hope of reaching a resolution without the involvement of the state's Industrial Relations Commission.

?The parties involved are examining a method of resolving their differences, which I believe will restore fairness,? Mr Brown said.

http://www.news.com.au/

[jenny]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...this ****es me off

[DIEHARD]

About 20,000 people protest against IR laws in Melbourne

UP to 20,000 Victorian workers have condemned the Federal Government's industrial relations (IR) laws during a pre-election protest march through central Melbourne.

Angry workers and their families today chanted for Prime Minister John Howard to resign and urged the government to protect their children's futures from unfair workplace conditions.

Politicians were notably absent, opting to keep their distance from union activity as the build-up to the federal election intensifies.

Traffic and trams were disrupted for more than two hours as the workers swamped Swanston Street, cutting off tram routes along Collins, Flinders and Swanston streets.

Workers marched with placards saying: "WorkChoices ... Not my choice" and "Don't give Howard another shot - protect your kids' future".

Hundreds of children, many dressed in construction hats and anti-WorkChoices T-shirts, marched with their parents.

Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Brian Boyd said the workers wanted to protect their kids' future livelihoods.

"What we're finding out is a lot of unionised workplaces have been hammered a bit by the IR laws but they've been able to hold onto their wages and conditions in most cases," Mr Boyd said.

"As the workers' kids leave school, they're getting ripped off straight away by AWA (Australian Workplace Agreement) individual contracts - that's what we've found out over the last 12 months."

Children carried anti-Howard placards as workers called for workplace agreements to be abolished and their working conditions protected from new IR laws.

Roy Williams, a father of four from Geelong, marched with his six-year-old daughter Amanda, wanting a secure future for his family.

Amanda said she wanted to be safe.

"I want to do this for my future," she said.

Mr Williams said the workplace needed good conditions to protect workers.

"I'd like to see a little bit of fairness across the board," Mr Williams said.

"We had a young apprentice and he's just got railroaded out the gate. It's just wrong the way they are going about things.

"The boys have put up a lot of fight over the years to get the working conditions and we'd really like to keep them."

Geelong trade worker Anthony (who didn't give his surname) held his three-year-old daughter Mia as he protested over workplace reforms.

"I want job security," Anthony said.

"If work contracts come in, you never know what the future is. We want our families protected."

http://www.news.com.au/

[Coaster]

Rudd's wife cut job conditions


May 24, 2007

A COMPANY owned by Kevin Rudd's wife put workers on individual contracts that stripped them of key award conditions.

A common law contract, obtained by the Herald Sun, removed penalty rates, overtime and allowances for an extra 45c an hour.

Workplace Minister Joe Hockey said the contracts could be illegal and he would investigate the matter further.

"For a common law contract to remove conditions from an award would be unlawful but I need to get more information," he said today.

"There seems to be a lot of questions that need to be asked about this matter."

Contract details

The deal offered a $30,000 annual salary, or $576.93 a week.

This is only marginally better than the $29,219 legal minimum ($560.11 a week) applying to the most junior class of worker in the industry.

The offer did not include meal and travel allowances or loadings for work performed outside normal hours.

The June 2006 contract noted that workers were covered by the Community Employment, Training and Support Services Award.

But the Herald Sun received legal advice that, if the contract were followed to the letter, the deal would be worse than the award and most likely fail the old no-disadvantage test that Labor wants to restore.

The contract is not an Australian Workplace Agreement, and under the law, should not undercut the award.

Mr Rudd's wife, Therese Rein, is a multi-millionaire businesswoman whose companies employ 1400 workers in Australia and Europe.

Her firm Ingeus is a global player in the employment and recruitment sector and last year achieved revenues exceeding $170 million.

WorkDirections Australia Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Ingeus, took over Frankston company Your Employment Solutions last year and transferred its workers over to her business.

Last night, WorkDirections Australia admitted that workers had been underpaid.

After inquiries by the Herald Sun, a director said workers' entitlements had been reinstated.

He said former staff were being traced so they could be reimbursed.

Industrial relations

The revelation comes as Mr Rudd stakes his claim for the prime ministership on restoring fairness to industrial relations.

Ms Rein's WorkDirections job contracts removed some of the very conditions her husband wants to give back to workers.

The Opposition Leader said in a recent speech that a Labor government would "restore the rights of working families to have proper access to penalty rates, overtime and shift allowances".

Labor MP Tanya Plibersek said Ms Rein's business was a separate issue to her husband's politics.

"She's an independent person who's running a business," Ms Plibersek said.

"Therese has said and Kevin has said in the past that she will run her business at arms length from any Labor government should we be elected.

"Any decisions which are made about her businesses in the future will made independently, she'll be treated like any other business."

WorkDirections director Greg Ashmead blamed former management for the irregularities and said employees' conditions had been reviewed this year.

"The terms and conditions of all current staff now mirror and mostly exceed the minimum terms and conditions of the award," he said.

[Coaster]

Rudd's wife under attack by UK unions
25th September 2007, 22:01 WST

Kevin Rudd's wife, Therese Rein, faces new claims her privately owned job-placement company will strip workers of guaranteed conditions.

Ingeus's British arm, WorkDirections UK, is under attack from British unions after it won contracts worth $198 million to become the biggest provider of welfare-to-work programs for up to one million disabled people.

The unions fear WorkDirections UK will not give its workers conditions designed to protect staff when they transfer to a new employer or cover areas such as index-linked pensions, sick pay and holidays.

British unions plan to contact their Australian counterparts for advice on how to resist the rise of WorkDirections UK as a private work-placement agency.

"We will be campaigning against WorkDirections and against the whole process of privatising work that is now done by civil servants," a spokesman for Britain's Public Commercial Services Union told News Limited newspapers.

In May, Ms Rein was forced to sell WorkDirections Australia, the local arm of her company Ingeus, after claims it had underpaid staff on common law contracts.

The company admitted it inadvertently underpaid workers it shifted from awards to common law contracts but rectified the breach and repaid the workers.

In a statement to News Limited, Ingeus said WorkDirections UK paid well above industry standard salaries and benefits for staff, including double-matched pensions.

The federal opposition leader refused to comment on reports that the British government will be issuing more contracts for bid.

[DIEHARD]

Lots of the use of the words such as CLAIMS, WILL, FEAR.

Lots of hotair, I hope we get an update on every move by this company.

I don't agree with private work placement agencies, I greatly dislike them.

But since when was Mrs Rudd running for office. I support the UK unions move to attempt to head off such privatisations.