ALLOWING the CFMEU and MUA to form a new militant 'super-union' will put the economy and jobs in jeopardy, accpording to Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn.

"The creation of a militant 'super-union' is a backwards step that will have far reaching consequences for the construction industry and the community,” Ms Wawn said.

“No government – Labor or Coalition – would allow a corporate merger which resulted in the formation of an entity with the capacity to shut down multiple supply chains and effectively hold the economy to ransom. But this is exactly what this decision will create,” Ms Wawn said.

"The MUA and CFMEU appear to share a common belief that they are above the law and are renowned for using tactics such as bullying, intimidation, and industrial thuggery on anyone who disagrees with them,” she said.

"Merging these two unions into one new, militant 'super-union' will see these illegal tactics become more prevalent, giving them even greater power to coerce business, put jobs at risk and bring the economy to a standstill.

“The community has every right to question how two of the most militant unions in Australian history could be allowed to get bigger,” she said.

"It is hard to imagine any other situation where a merger with ramifications so dire would be allowed to happen, and the community has every reason to hold serious concerns about what this means for them.

“Even worse, the key partners in this 'super-union' seem to take pride in taking illegal action, believing they are above the law which applies to the rest of the community.

“There are countless decisions where courts have determined that breaking the law is part of the business model under which these militant unions operate,” Ms Wawn said.

"They simply pay the fines the courts impose and then repeat offend. With more than $310 million in assets and $150 million in annual turnover even the maximum fines the courts can impose will be irrelevant to the super-union and their ability to expand this business model unrestrained."

Master Builders agreed with recent observations of Federal Court Judge Salvatore Vasta who noted, "It seems that the CFMEU feel that they can usurp Parliament and that they can set the law in this country. There is no place for such an attitude in Australian society.”

The new militant 'super-union' and its officials now face some important tests, according to Master Builders.

"Will they embark on a new era of lawful activity or revert to thuggery and intimidation? Will they continue to think that there is one law for militant unions and another for everyone else? Will they continue to put their own interests above those of the community, workers and normal people?,” Ms Wawn said.

"If history is anything to go by, we think they'll fail these tests fairly soon."

www.masterbuilders.com.au

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AS AUSTRALIA's largest retail peak body industry, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has once again secured a brighter future for retailers across the country by defeating the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association’s (SDA) application to provide additional public holiday entitlements to full-time and part-time employees.

Russell Zimmerman, Executive Director of the ARA, said the Fair Work Commission’s (FWC) recent decision to reject the SDA’s application is a great outcome for the industry as retailers are already struggling with rising cost pressures in a overwrought market.

“Although the SDA continues to add pressure to retailers already facing a volatile trading environment, the FWC has once again understood the serious implications this would have had to the industry and the overall economy,” Mr Zimmerman said.

The SDA’s application sought retailers to provide additional entitlements to full-time and five-day per week part-time employees when a public holiday fell on their non-working day. 

“This application would have entitled part-time and full-time employees to a day’s pay, a day off with pay or a day added to their annual leave, not only crippling the retailers bottom line but also impacting on their ability to open their doors seven days a week,” Mr Zimmerman said.

“With Australian retail workers already receiving one of the highest penalty rates in the world, the SDA’s application to provide additional entitlements would have had serious implications to retailers across the country.”

The ARA strongly opposed the application last year, engaging their legal partners, FCB, to defend the application.

“We would like to thank those who assisted with this defence, and hope more progressive decisions like this one will bring further opportunities to employees and employers working in the sector,” Mr Zimmerman said.

“Retail employees are a vital part of the industry, and the ARA will continue to support those working in the sector to ensure these workers - at all levels - are recognised and validated for their hard work in the industry.”

About the Australian Retailers Association:
Founded in 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) is Australia’s largest retail association, representing the country’s $310 billion sector, which employs more than 1.2 million people. As Australia’s leading retail peak body industry, the ARA is a strong pro-active advocate for Australian retail and works to ensure retail success by informing, protecting, advocating, educating and saving money for its 7,500 independent and national retail members throughout Australia. For more information, visit www.retail.org.au or call 1300 368 041.

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THE biggest losers from the US's steel and aluminium tariffs aren’t other countries that export to the US.

"The biggest losers are Americans’ said Heath Baker, head of policy at the Export Council of Australia (ECA).

"People mistakenly think tariffs are a burden that foreign exporters have to absorb. They are not; they are a tax on domestic businesses and consumers. Yes, tariffs hurt foreign exporters, but they are collateral damage.

"It is America’s economy that will bear the full cost of these tariffs. They will make products more expensive for American consumers and make American exporters less competitive.

"When Australia and other countries respond to America’s actions, common sense needs to prevail. Where’s the sense of responding to an act of American self-harm with your own act of self-harm?"

In the post-World War Two era, international trade has thrived on a system of rules, and the predictability and certainty that come from those rules, according to the ECA.

"By introducing these tariffs, America is introducing uncertainty into the trading system," said Andrew Hudson, ECA board director. "But tit-for-tat retaliation by other countries will just undermine that system further, with zero real benefit for those countries.

"Australia and other countries affected by US steel and aluminium tariffs need to respond in a way that serves to both preserve and strengthen the trading system, rather than destabilising it. This means following the mechanisms established at the World Trade Organisation, through other international agreements to which the US and its trading partners are a party and through sensible diplomacy.

"Yes, this will take time. But it’s the responsible course of action. Further unilateral action merely serves to further undermine the rules-based system that has served the interests of all parties."

Mr Baker said, "The other way the Australian Government can respond is by striving to make its businesses as competitive internationally as possible. Signing the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership later this week will help with this. And there’s much more that can be done, particularly to get more SMEs involved in exporting, and to help existing SME exporters grow."

Last week the ECA released its annual trade policy recommendations. The focus of these were to get more SMEs involved in international trade. Recommendations here.

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THE Fair Work Ombudsman’s latest Compliance Activity Report shows a workplace non-compliance rate of 76 percent in the Caltex service network.

“In light of this alarmingly high level of non-compliance across its retail fuel outlets, I am not surprised by Caltex’s announcement to the ASX last week that it will transition franchise sites to company operations,” Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said.

“FWO’s report shows Caltex Australia has been presiding over a non-compliant and unsustainable operating model.”

The FWO commenced investigations into the network in late 2016 after receiving intelligence indicating an upsurge in compliance issues at Caltex outlets, including non-payment and underpayment of wages; cash payments made ‘off the books’; false records; and threats of termination or visa cancellation for any workers who complained.

During the compliance activity, Fair Work inspectors visited 25 retail fuel outlet sites operated by 23 Caltex franchisees in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

Just six of these sites were found to be compliant with workplace laws – a non-compliance rate of 76 percent.

Across the non-compliant sites, inspectors found evidence of underpayment of wages, non-payment of overtime and penalty rates as well as record keeping and pay slip breaches.

Inspectors also had concerns about the accuracy of the time and wage records provided by non-compliant franchisees, with legal action being taken against two franchisees for allegedly providing falsified records.

The Fair Work Ombudsman commenced proceedings against the former operator of the Caltex Five Dock service station in Sydney, Aulion Pty Ltd, and has also initiated proceedings against Abdul Wahid and Sons Pty Ltd, the former franchisee of a number of Caltex outlets in Sydney.

In both cases, the Fair Work Ombudsman alleges that the absence of accurate time and wage records prevented inspectors from completing audits and determining whether employees had received their lawful entitlements.

During the activity, the regulator issued nine infringement notices, 11 compliance notices and 16 formal cautions to non-compliant franchisees.

Inspectors also recovered a total of $9,329.85 in back-pay for 26 workers who were underpaid during a one-month assessment period.

Ms James said the agency believes the figure would be higher if underpayments could have been accurately calculated, but with so many deficiencies in the outlets’ records it is impossible to be sure of the true extent of the wage rip-offs.

“There’s no question that if these findings indicate the norm in this network, and if these underpayments are replicated throughout the business month after month, we are quickly looking at millions of dollars of underpayments over the course of a few years,” Ms James said.

“A large number of employees at the audited sites are young and migrant workers, cohorts that we know to be particularly vulnerable to workplace exploitation and reluctant to complain about mistreatment.

“Sixty percent of the 194 employees the Fair Work Ombudsman obtained records for were visa holders and nearly 26 per cent under the age of 24,” Ms James said.

The investigation also found that a contributing factor to the high rates of non-compliance was that 17 of the 23 franchise operators were from non-English speaking backgrounds with minimal knowledge or experience of Commonwealth workplace laws.

Ms James said these factors, when paired with low-skill work in competitive markets, escalated the risk profile for the network.

“Caltex should have recognised this in its business model by ensuring franchisors properly understood their obligations and conducted monitoring to assure itself that obligations were being met,” Ms James said.

“While Caltex claims it had a practice of carrying out annual reviews and audit processes to ensure compliance with the law, it is clear these checks were inadequate and failed to properly consider the dynamics at play in its business.”

Ms James said throughout the investigation, the FWO had offered Caltex the opportunity to enter into a compliance partnership with the FWO but Caltex had failed to commit to the proposal or discuss it in any detail.

Now that Caltex has announced it intends to convert all its franchised service stations to company-operated stores by mid-2020, Ms James has called on Caltex to engage seriously in the offer of a compliance partnership so that the regulator and the Australian community can be confident Caltex is operating openly and honestly.

“The Australian public expects nothing less from such large and reputable companies, and recent changes to the law mean that in some circumstances franchisors or holding companies can now be held liable for breaches or underpayments by their franchisees,” Ms James said.

Employers and employees can visit www.fairwork.gov.au or call the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94 for free advice and assistance about their rights and obligations in the workplace.  A free interpreter service is available on 13 14 50.
 
Follow Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James on Twitter @NatJamesFWO, the Fair Work Ombudsman @fairwork_gov_au or find us on Facebook www.facebook.com/fairwork.gov.au

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