THE CONFIRMED COVID-19 cases from the CFMEU Victorian head office protest gathering have grown to seven, spreading to innocent family members including, elderly parents, wives, brothers, and sisters as well as dozens of young children including two babies.

John Setka, Secretary of the CFMEU Victoria-Tasmania said, “The tragedy is that due to the actions of these reckless and selfish protesters, many of these members families who have been infected are very sick with the delta virus.

“These protesters are just selfish idiots with absolutely no care for anyone other than themselves. The have caused enormous stress and heartache for members families’ who were just doing their job on the day of the protest.

“While we welcome construction opening back up to 25% percent today, these members won’t be going back to work and along with their families will be in quarantine for two weeks with the added stress of so many family members being very sick and some hospitalised.

“The CFMEU along with the Building Industry Group of unions are committed to continuing to work tirelessly to get everyone back to work and do our bit to help stop the spread of this virus which doesn’t discriminate,” Mr Setka said.

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SAFEWORK NSW is warning businesses using forklifts they will be visited after the workplace regulator releases astonishing figures noting an incident involving a forklift occurs every day, six days week.

SafeWork NSW executive director of compliance and resolution, Tony Williams, said incidents involving forklifts were one of the biggest issues Safework NSW faced in the manufacturing space and inspectors would be out in force and can fine operators putting people at risk.

“Over the last two years, SafeWork NSW has recorded an astonishing 598 incidents involving forklifts. Tragically five of these incidents resulted in workplace fatalities,” Mr Williams said.

“While not all incidents involve an injury or death, many of these incidents include collisions between forklifts or other vehicles, rollovers, and objects falling off forklifts when loading or unloading.

“The main factor we see in people being killed or seriously injured by a forklift is primarily inadequate separation between pedestrians and forklifts, which leads to pedestrians being hit by a forklift or its load.

“Almost 75 percent of all incidents happen in just five industries – transport, manufacturing, construction, retail and wholesale. We have issued 494 notices to operators in the same time the 598 incidents happened – almost 20 percent of workplaces don’t have simple seatbelt compliance in place.

“The use of forklifts continues to grow and they are great tools for all sorts of businesses, but if we are not doing it safely then people will be forced to stop using them,” Mr Williams said.

SafeWork’s 2021 Manufacturing Sector Plan, Forklift Compliance Project commences this month and will see Inspectors provide education to the industry along with conducting compliance checks against high-risk industries.

“While always checking on compliance, Inspectors will be out educating users on forklift safety and is warning businesses and drivers that if they are doing the wrong thing, they will be held accountable,” Mr Williams said.

“But we will also engage, educate and build strong working relationships with identified high-risk industries, small businesses and locations to embed a culture of forklift safety.

“We have already sent over 850 awareness letters to businesses encouraging them to get their workplaces in order in preparation of Safework inspectors turning up.

“SafeWork will be targeting those in high-risk industries, but any workplace in NSW that uses a forklift should expect a visit from a Safework inspector who will be looking at a range of issues including, licencing, traffic management, seatbelts, and forklift."

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GEOFABRICS Australasia Pty Ltd, Australia and New Zealand’s largest manufacturer and supplier of geosynthetic products, has announced the acquisition of Plascorp Holdings Pty Ltd.

Plascorp is one of Australia’s leading privately-owned manufacturers of industrial products with strong market positions in PVC pipe, mine ventilation, steel reinforcement, ducting and hose.

The acquisition creates one of the largest private companies in Australia and New Zealand, manufacturing and selling highly engineered industrial products. The acquisition complements Geofabrics market leadership in building key road, rail and mining infrastructure through Australian manufacturing and the use of recycled materials.

“This is a very significant milestone for Geofabrics and Plascorp," Geofabrics group managing directorDennis Grech said. "Both companies are leaders in Australian manufacturing and leaders in providing innovative and local solutions to a diversified customer base across multiple segments.

"Individually, Geofabrics and Plascorp are wonderful local businesses with a customer-centric culture, experienced teams and state of the art manufacturing assets. Together, the combination of Geofabrics and Plascorp brings to market a business that provides our customers a broad range of geosynthetic and industrial solutions, using local and recycled content, Australian R&D and the creation of local jobs.”

“Plascorp will continue to operate as a stand-alone business with its own leadership team and Geofabrics looks forward to sharing our expertise in R&D and innovation, access to a deep project pipeline and a diversified product range.”

Plascorp directors George Antonopoulos and Jeff Goldberg will remain in the Plascorp business. Michael Loudovaris has been appointed to the position of Plascorp executive general manager.

“You don’t just build a business, you build people and then people build up that business," Mr Antonopoulos said. "The value of any business is through the support of its staff and its customers. We believe Geofabrics fits the ethos that we have always used in building up Plascorp to its current stage.

"I am certain Geofabrics will take Plascorp to the next level of growth. Jeff and I will continue to work for Plascorp under Geofabrics ownership for a transitional period to ensure a smooth takeover of the business and to help Geofabrics in its endeavour to grow Plascorp to its full potential.”

Mr Goldberg said, “I am very excited to hand over the baton to a very competent and experienced team. Plascorp, as well as Geofabrics, will continue to champion the needs of customers, suppliers, staff and shareholders; ensuring that what is delivered meets our original goals and objectives.

"I would like to thank Geofabrics for the professionalism on all negotiations carried out. My hope is that Geofabrics and Plascorp grows from strength to strength.”

Mr Grech said, “George and Jeff have grown the Plascorp business into a market leader in steel reinforcement, PVC pipes, ducting and mine ventilation. It is wonderful George and Jeff have agreed to remain in the business to transition Plascorp into its next phase of growth.

"I am excited to work with Michael, Jeff and George as well as the Plascorp leadership team to provide our customers with best-in-class infrastructure solutions.”

NEW RESEARCH reveals Australian consumers are overwhelmingly in favour of small businesses being given the ability to choose the cheapest option to process debit card payments through Least Cost Routing (LCR).

Eftpos CEO Stephen Benton said, “The new survey found that 83 percent of respondents now think it’s important for merchants to be able to select the lowest cost network, a figure that highlights growing public awareness and concern over business costs in the COVID environment.

“The new research shows that Australians clearly recognise and identify with the pressures small businesses face, and the importance of keeping their costs down”. 

The cost of debit card fees is now critical to small business because they have replaced cash as by far the most common way to pay in Australia, representing nearly 9 billion – and almost 70 percent – of total electronic retail transactions annually. 

The new research shows an eight-point rise since the previous survey three years ago, a jump that demonstrates that consumer support for Least Cost Routing (LCR) has moved up the agenda for everyday shoppers and gained their widespread support.

It also suggests that consumers are increasingly understanding the potential economic benefits to be gained from LCR, with 45 percent of consumers stating that merchants were likely to pass on any fee savings to their customers, up 12 points since the last survey.

Publicly supported by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg as a key competitive mechanism to help level the playing field between small businesses and their larger peers with more market power, LCR lets merchants decide what payment ‘rails’ debit card transactions run down based on the lowest cost.

Mr Benton said the research also showed, that when asked about which payments network Australians would prefer to process their online or tap debit card transactions, 66 percent of consumers have no preference in network or would prefer to use the low-cost Australian eftpos network, rather than international schemes.

Of those that nominated a network preference, eftpos was the preference for 28 percent, with Visa and Mastercard only being preferred by 20 percent and 15 percent respectively.

The vast majority cardholders (91%) believe merchants processing via the eftpos network would not have a negative impact on their payment experience online or instore. 

The research findings echo ongoing public support expressed via an online petition on Least Cost Routing, which has now been signed by over 15,000 people. 

The petition is supported by a leading group of influential industry organisations including the Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association (ACAPMA); Australian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS); Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI); Australian Lottery and Newsagents Association (ALNA); Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA); Franchise Council of Australia (FCA); Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB); MGA Independent Retailers / Timber Merchants Association (TMA); National Retail Association (NRA); and the Restaurant & Catering Industry Association of Australia (R&CA).

COSBOA CEO Alexi Boyd said she was pleased to see increasing public backing of the need for small businesses to keep their costs down.

“People know that small businesses are under intense pressure right now, and Australians clearly have a preference for merchants to choose their own destiny when it comes to debit card fees – whether it’s in stores, on mobile or online,” Ms Boyd said.

About eftpos 

Eftpos is Australia’s debit card system, processing over 2 billion debit card transactions in 2020 worth an average of more than $300 million each day. www.eftposaustralia.com.au

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