Category Archives: Australian trade unions

Opposition leader calls for university’s leaders to quit – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has joined an international push “to hold the Taliban to account” under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

Wong says:

We know the women and girls of Afghanistan are effectively being erased from public life by the various edicts the Taliban … have issued.

The steps we are taking with Germany, Canada and the Netherlands are unprecedented. We are intending to use the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, to which Afghanistan is a party, to take action.

If I can … say again to the Australian Lebanese community. This is a deeply distressing situation for so many of you. I know that there are many Australians in Lebanon. There are many Australians who have relatives, family and friends in Lebanon. I again urge Australians in Lebanon to leave now. There are flight cancelations and disruptions, and there is a risk that Beirut airport may close for an extended period of time.

Please do not wait for a preferred route. Please take the first option you can to leave. We continue to monitor the situation closely. We have been working with partners on contingency plans now for many months but I again say to anyone who any Australian who is in Lebanon: please leave now.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Labor’s preliminary refusal of Pep11 gas project ‘an amazing step forward’, Scamps says; total fire ban announced for parts of NSW

Posted on by

Follow today’s news live

On the double-dissolution threat floated by Anthony Albanese yesterday, Sarah Hanson-Young says:

Again, why, why be so bullish about this? The Australian people don’t need a panicked prime minister who wants to press the exit button because he can’t get his own way.

They want a government that’s willing to work across the parliament. Now, a third of Australians voted for parties other than Labor or Liberal at the last election. And they did that because they want a parliament that works for them.

We want to fix it. We want to give the government the opportunity to fix it. I’m not just interested in saying no to things. I want to get outcomes. I guess that’s my concern.

This prime minister seems to have such a chip on his shoulder, doesn’t want to work with anyone. Just wants to do it all his way. I don’t think this is a very good sign for the future. Come on, come on, prime minister, you know, let’s put – put aside the politics and get on with getting some outcomes.

Continue reading...

CFMEU faces fresh investigations into alleged corruption in Queensland, NSW and SA branches

Posted on by

Union’s administrator accepts all seven of Geoffrey Watson SC’s recommendations, including looking into alleged links to motorcycle gangs

The construction wing of the CFMEU is facing investigations into alleged corruption and criminal links in its Queensland, New South Wales and South Australian branches and a further inquiry in Victoria backed by new coercive powers, after its interim administrator accepted the findings of an initial investigation in full.

Responding on Tuesday to an interim investigation conducted by barrister Geoffrey Watson SC into the CFMEU’s combined Victorian and Tasmanian branch, administrator Mark Irving KC accepted all seven of Watson’s recommendations, including that alleged links to outlaw motorcycle gangs and other organised crime be further investigated.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Anthony Albanese may decide who runs in safe Labor seat as deputy PM and union locked in tussle

Posted on by

Richard Marles and Bill Shorten’s old union, the Australian Workers’ Union, in stoush to pick candidate for Gorton

The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, is locked in a struggle with Bill Shorten’s old union, the Australian Workers’ Union, to pick the next candidate for the safe Labor seat of Gorton.

Shorten’s seat of Maribyrnong will be contested by the left’s Jo Briskey while Labor’s choice for Gorton is a tussle between the climate crisis and water policy expert Alice Jordan-Baird and the Brimbank mayor, Ranka Rasic.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

NSW nurses and midwives strike: hospital wait times up and surgery delays expected

Posted on by

Premier says agreeing to 15% pay rise this year would lead other workers to ‘knock on my door’ demanding the same

A New South Wales nurses’ strike has prompted warnings to keep ambulances and emergency departments clear of minor cases as Labor feels the heat from public sector unions.

Nurses and midwives are walking off the job across NSW for 12 hours on Tuesday after demands for a 15% pay rise this year were rebuffed.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

High court will expedite challenge from former CFMEU officials against administration

Posted on by

Former construction union bosses claim forced administration is unconstitutional because it prevents or limits political donations

Former construction union officials challenging the government’s law putting the union into administration will get their day in the high court as early as November, after the court agreed to expedite the case.

On Friday, the acting chief justice, Michelle Gordon, ordered a timetable that will allow the case to be heard this year after the plaintiffs argued the law prevented them giving political donations and campaigning ahead of the federal election, due by May 2025.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Senate committee told foreign student cap would ‘gut’ private education sector – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

Michele O’Neil said this isn’t about “expecting everyone to have the same opinion all of the time” but continued:

We’re a diverse movement, and people have strong opinions, but it is at its core about who we are and what we stand for. And we don’t walk away when things get tough, we face up to them. And angry individuals lashing out and blaming everyone except themselves doesn’t get us through this.

We need to stay steady on what is in the interest of working people and what’s in the interest of working people is good, clean, strong, effective unions with leaders who see their job as representing workers and their members, not acting in their own self-interest.

No … I think that it’s important that we realise that the union movement – the vast bulk of unions – want to stay part of the united union movement, and have made that really clear.

What I’m saying, Patricia, is we’re talking to all of our unions all of the time … I haven’t had any other unions threaten to quit.

Continue reading...

Builders and the Fair Work Commission are delaying CFMEU members’ pay deals, union leader says

Posted on by

Electrical Trades Union secretary says it’s ‘appalling’ that agreements struck before the CFMEU was placed into administration ‘aren’t getting through’ the FWC

Blue-collar unions have taken aim at builders and the Fair Work Commission for delays approving pay deals struck before allegations of criminal misconduct and bikie links resulted in the construction union being placed into administration.

Troy Gray, the Electrical Trades Union Victorian secretary, said it was “appalling” that administrators have removed three union-appointed directors from the board of industry super fund Cbus and that enterprise agreements “aren’t getting through” the FWC.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

CFMEU administrator moves for ‘clean sweep’ of union super fund directors at Cbus

Posted on by

Exclusive: Former national construction union secretary digs in, while ETU suspends Labor and ACTU contributions in protest of ‘trial by parliament’

The administrator of the construction union wants a “clean sweep” of union-appointed board directors on the Cbus industry super fund, prompting two resignations and a plan to sack another former union official.

On Wednesday a spokesperson for the Construction Forestry Maritime Employees Union confirmed Rita Mallia, who was sacked from her New South Wales construction president role on Friday, and former ACT secretary, Jason O’Mara, had resigned as member directors of the fund, which is one of Australia’s largest, with $94bn under management.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Albanese government rejects Setka’s claim Labor double-crossed him over CFMEU administration as ‘ridiculous’

Posted on by

Construction Forestry Maritime Employees Union members to protest administration in capital city rallies on Tuesday

Labor has emphatically rejected claims by former construction union official John Setka that the Albanese government agreed to let him stand down in return for not putting his union into administration.

The workplace relations minister, Murray Watt, said this was a “ridiculous claim” and rejected as “absolutely fanciful” suggestions Labor had double-crossed him by proceeding to put the union into administration over accusations of criminal misconduct and bikie links against the body.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

‘Strong sentiment’ among construction union members to disaffiliate from Labor, CFMEU secretary says

Posted on by

Zach Smith says federal government plan to appoint administrators has left members feeling their democratic rights have been stripped

Construction union members are “angry” and there is a “strong sentiment” among many to disaffiliate from the Labor party, the Construction Forestry Maritime and Employees Union’s national secretary has warned.

After the Coalition and Labor struck a deal to appoint administrators to address accusations of criminal misconduct and bikie links, Zach Smith said the union was “never given an opportunity” to address the issues itself.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Labor pushing for new powers to ‘clean up’ alleged criminal activity in CFMEU

Posted on by

In further toughening of stance, government considers calls for joint federal and state police taskforce to investigate unions

The Albanese government will next week push for new powers to appoint an administrator of the construction union, due to a delay in the Fair Work case brought after accusations of criminal misconduct and bikie links.

In a further toughening of Labor’s stance, the workplace relations minister, Murray Watt, signalled the government was considering calls for a joint federal and state police taskforce to investigate alleged criminal conduct in unions.

Continue reading...

As many as 360 workers sacked at Rex with hundreds more jobs to go

Posted on by

Employees reportedly told the airline will no longer operate flights between capital cities

As many as 360 staff at Rex Airlines have been sacked already and hundreds more are on the chopping block after administrators were called in to run the embattled carrier, with remaining staff told they may not get paid until a new buyer is found.

It comes amid speculation that Asia-based private equity firm PAG, which funded Rex’s $150m expansion to jet operations, was considering becoming the airline’s new owner out of administration.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Tony Burke announces independent administrator of CFMEU

Posted on by

Fair Work Commission’s Murray Furlong appointed as administrator of construction union. Follow the day’s news live

Tim Ayres flags ‘proportionate’ federal response to CFMEU

A Labor senator says that federal intervention into alleged criminal behaviour within the CFMEU will be effective and proportionate, AAP reports.

Tony and the team in there are doing the careful work of making sure that the government’s response is effective, well-weighted and effective.

While I don’t forecast the debates in terms of the national executive, we have received these requests from the premiers, we will act upon them, and we’ll act in accordance with the requests from the premiers.

We’re very blessed in this country. We don’t have a gun culture, we don’t have a history of political violence, we don’t at this point in time – thank God – have the fragmentation and polarisation that sadly exists in America to quite the same extent.

So look, can you rule these things out? Of course not. Do I expect it? Well, maybe some time in the next 100 or 200 years, sure. Almost anything could happen in that period of time. But is is imminent? I doubt it very much.

Continue reading...

Minns calls for NSW Labor to suspend CFMEU affiliation and stop donations after corruption allegations

Posted on by

Premier says he has written to NSW Labor general secretary requesting immediate suspension of party’s affiliation to CFMEU’s construction and general division

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has asked for the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union’s (CFMEU) affiliation with the state Labor party to be immediately suspended and donations and fees to be stopped after further allegations against its leadership.

The Labor leader lashed the union early on Wednesday morning after Nine newspapers published a video allegedly capturing the NSW union boss Darren Greenfield being passed a $5000 cash bundle in a suspected kickback deal.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

CFMEU could be deregistered ‘if that’s what needs to be done’ after allegations, minister says

Posted on by

Federal workplace minister Tony Burke has asked for advice on the extent of powers following claims of criminal links within construction division of union

All options are on the table when it comes to tackling allegations of links between the construction union and organised crime, the federal workplace relations minister says.

Tony Burke has asked his department to advise him on ministerial powers to respond to reports alleging bikies were acting as union delegates and other links between construction projects and organised crime.

Continue reading...

Anthony Albanese slams John Setka after union heavyweight resigns as CFMEU boss

Posted on by

Controversial figure will step down from role as Victorian branch secretary after 12 years

Anthony Albanese has slammed John Setka, saying he “has no legitimate place in the Labor movement” after the powerful union figure resigned as secretary of the Victorian branch of the CFMEU.

The prime minister’s comments came after reports were published on Saturday by Nine newspapers into alleged criminal links within the construction industry and the union.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Children in danger as NSW child protection reaches crisis point, striking caseworkers say

Posted on by

Public-sector workers call for pay rise, 500 additional staff and the de-privatising of out-of-home care

New South Wales child protection workers have warned that some of the state’s most vulnerable children are being neglected or put at risk of being removed from their families because resourcing problems in the sector have reached crisis point.

More than 2,000 public-sector child protection workers across the state plan to strike for part of the day on Wednesday as they call on the government to give them a pay rise, hire 500 additional staff and de-privatise out-of-home care.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Ballarat goldmine collapse: miner killed in underground rockfall in Victoria

Posted on by

Two miners were pinned under a rockfall at the Mount Clear mine in Ballarat, Victoria, with one later rescued

A man has died and another is fighting for his life in hospital after a mine collapse in Victoria’s Goldfields region.

Thirty people were working about 3km from the entrance of the Ballarat Gold Mine at Mount Clear when the incident occurred about 4.50pm on Wednesday.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Victoria to limit WorkCover compensation for stress after deal struck with opposition

Posted on by

Workers receiving payments beyond two-and-a-half years to undergo another impairment test under changes expected to pass parliament

Workers’ compensation for mental health injuries such as stress and burnout will be limited after the Victorian government struck a deal to push through contentious changes to the state’s “broken” WorkCover scheme.

Premiums for businesses under the scheme would also be frozen for the 2024-25 financial year, under an agreement with the state’s opposition to secure support for the bill.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...