Showing posts with label jobs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jobs. Show all posts
Friday 13 July 2018
How Trump's corporate tax cuts played out in the US economy
Crikey.com.au, 10 July 2018:
Evidence is now emerging
of just how extraordinarily wasteful Donald Trump's trillion-dollar corporate
tax cut has been as the results -- or lack thereof -- filter into the real US
economy.
It's now
well-established that the bulk of the tax cuts have gone into record-breaking
share buybacks and increased dividends by US companies, with hundreds of
billions of dollars flowing or set to flow back to investors. But not a lot of
the rest is flowing into extra investment -- the raison d'etre of
company tax cuts. New
investment data shows US equipment investment fell in the first
quarter of the year compared to the final quarter of 2017. How about wages,
which are supposed to increase due to company tax cuts (at least according
to Mathias
Cormann)? In June, monthly wage growth in the US fell to
0.2% from 0.3% in March, lower than expected and leaving wage growth
at 2.7% for the 2017-18 year. Inflation in the US was 2.8%
for the year to May, suggesting US workers are actually going backwards
after inflation.
US unemployment is at 4%
(up a tad) — far below our own level of 5.5%. Like the Kiwis, the Americans
can’t get wages to grow even with full employment — or even with tax cuts that
have massively inflated the US deficit at a time of peak employment.
The fact that Trump and
his GOP cronies have pushed the US budget deficit toward $1 trillion a year
(remember when the Republicans were the party of fiscal restraint?) at a time
of such strong employment also has implications for the stimulatory effect of
such largesse. New research from the San
Francisco Federal Reserve shows that fiscal stimulus is significantly
weaker at times of expansion than during recessions, and that the Republican
tax cuts will not meet what the paper terms the “overly optimistic”
expectations of boosters. Instead of the boost to US GDP growth this year of
about 1.3 percentage points estimated by the Congressional Budget Office and
other forecasters, they write, “the true boost is more likely to be less than 1
percentage point,” with some studies pointing to as little as zero.....
Read the full article here.
Labels:
debt,
economics,
jobs,
taxation,
US politics
Sunday 8 July 2018
Australia 2018: just when registered jobseekers thought it couldn’t get any worse
The
Guardian, 2
July 2018:
All across the country
unemployed Australians are today bracing themselves for more stress and
suffering, as the Coalition unleashes its new needlessly cruel benefit
sanctions regime.
Starting 1 July, the
Turnbull government is granting job agencies new, unprecedented powers to
punish Newstart recipients for failing to comply with gruelling compliance
demands.
Under this new “demerit
point” system, agencies will now impose payment suspensions if (they believe)
jobseekers are behaving inappropriately, or failing to attend appointments and
activities like Work for the Dole without a“reasonable
excuse”.
Alarmingly,
jobseekers currently battling drug or alcohol related illnesses are now no
longer (“reasonably”) exempt from activities, nor safe from financial
punishment.
Until 1 July 2018,
Centrelink has been able to overturn any job agency penalties if it deems that
they’re unfair or will lead to “extreme poverty”. It will lose much of this
power. Now, job agencies will be able to punish their unemployed clients
without government regulation or oversight.
Unemployed workers will
also lose significant powers of appeal. They will have to passively accept many
of the decisions ordered against them. In short, privately owned job agencies –
many of which are for-profit private companies – will wield unlimited,
unchecked power over the unemployed.
Under this system,
unemployed workers can be completely cut off Newstart if they refuse to attend
unsafe work for the dole activities. Even though 64%
of sites are failing to meet basic safety standards, jobseekers will be
forced to accept any dangerous, hostile conditions they’re met with.
Given that government
funding to job agencies is tied to outcomes, such as placing participants into
work for the dole, there is little incentive for job agencies to treat
unemployed workers fairly. On the contrary – there are significant financial
incentives to abuse unemployed workers.
Already this abuse has reached crisis proportions.
In 2015-16, job agencies
imposed a record 2m financial penalties on the unemployed.
As noted by the
National Welfare Rights Network, roughly half of these penalties were found
to be unfair and were rejected by Centrelink. This means that in 2015-16,
more than 1 million unemployed people had their payments cut off when they did
nothing wrong.
This kind of error rate
is staggering – in any other sector, it would surely result in a royal
commission. Earlier this year, a suspected 5%
error rate at the Australian Tax Office resulted in an immediate government
investigation.
Clearly, a culture of
lawlessness and unaccountability already pervades the employment services
sector. Under the new “demerit point’”scheme, this $10bn industry will enjoy
even more freedom to run riot. The 800,000 unemployed workers attending job
agencies will be left to fend for themselves.....
The author of
this article is Jeremy Poxon, media officer for the Australian Unemployed
Workers Union.
Friday 6 July 2018
The Lib-Nats class war continues apace and General Turnbull reminds us of another victory
On 1 July 2018 Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Bligh Turnbull proudly reminded his fellow Australians that the planned personal income tax cuts had started that day.
He was careful not to point out that to get that $530 tax refund next year this nurse or school teacher would have to earn above the average full-time wage in their respective professions.
Turnbull was also careful not to mention that these personal tax cuts excluded the lowest income earners - many of whom would be hit with the second tranche of penalty rate cuts which came into force on 1 July as well.
While the fact that on 1 July he just happens to get a 2 per cent parliamentary pay rise for the third year in a row, during a period of extremely low wage growth for ordinary workers, passes without mention as well.
It did not go unnoticed...........
The
Guardian, 1
July 2018:
This week saw criticism
of Labor starting a class war. But the real class war is being fought by
those who seek to erase people on low and middle incomes from the debate. And
too often the media are willing participants in this erasure.
Let us be honest:
Australia is a nation whose politicians are for the most part drawn from
similar socioeconomic (and education) backgrounds, covered by journalists who
(including myself) come from similar backgrounds, and where any interruption to
this course of events – such as when
Ricky Muir was elected to the Senate – is greeted with a barely
disguised level of condescension that someone not university educated or white
collar has deigned to enter the sanctum.
It is a situation of
course not solely devoted to income – gender and especially race are also major
factors at play. In positions of power we remain a very white, relatively
well-paid male nation (and I speak as one of that group).
It is not a situation
without consequences.
Retirement age of 70?
Well, that seems doable to one who sits behind a desk. The shift of jobs to the
services sector? Well, after all, who would want to work in a factory? Low
levels of industrial disputes? That must be good – let me quote some measure of
international competitiveness while I pass over these record
low wages growth and wonder at the coincidence.
It’s the type of
thinking that has journalists asking “Is $120,000 the new rich” because that
will generate a headline without even caring that it is more than double the
median income.
And it is why I have
little time for the theatre criticism that can infest political coverage where
journalists writing for publications whose target audience is the very
wealthiest in our society talk about how Labor’s “class war” attacks on Malcolm
Turnbull are poor politics that won’t fly, and are divisive.
That’s pretty rich given
today low-paid fast-food, hospitality, pharmacy and retail workers around the
country are seeing cuts to their penalty rates.
Let us not fall into the
trap of believing we can’t suggest that the situation and wealth of those in
power has no impact on the policies they put forward, even while such policies
actually benefit those same people who are putting them in place.
Oh no, we must instead
keep to the myth that Australia is some egalitarian paradise where our history
is one of everyone buckling down and working together to forge a nation against
the odds. Bugger the rum rebellion, put John Macarthur on
the $2 note, and bask in the warmth of misremembered history……
We see this erasure in
his speeches where he talks of “school principals and police superintendents”
to describe those deserving of a tax cuts as being somehow not wealthy – indeed
as very much middle class.
The
base level salary for a Victorian police superintendent is $154,412,
the median salary for a Victorian school principal in 2015-16 was $113,446.
That someone would use such incomes to talk up tax cuts says all you need to
know about who he sees as the most deserving.
And here I must admit
the media is often hostage to this erasure as well.
Upon the passing of the
income tax cuts, one newspaper ran the line “What do low-medium income earners
get?” and noted that “From July next year, Australians who earn up to $125,333
will get up to $530 cash-back when they lodge their tax return”.
In 2017
the median income was $52,988 and the top 10% of employees earned more
than $109,668. Congratulations to those in the top 10%, you’re now officially
middle-income Australia.
It means those who are
actually middle and low-income workers are effectively erased from the debate –
their situation ignored, and where to even raise it draws a rebuke – how dare
you play the class war card! Why do you hate deserving middle class like the
police superintendent?
The budget, despite what
we might be led to believe, given the tax cuts that have just been passed
without any savings measures attached, is not a magic pudding. Money spent on
tax cuts to those presented as middle class but who are actually wealthy, means
less money for those on actual low and middle incomes.
We do have a class war
in Australia, and right now it is being won by those who not only would have
you believe it is not occurring – and should not be mentioned – but who also
would have you believe that those who are actually well off are doing it tough.
We need to be honest
about who makes decisions in this country, how they are made and who they
benefit. And we need to be honest about what is the reality for people on low
and middle incomes. Failure to do so not only erases them from the debate, it
ensures the system remains unchanged.
Read the full
article here.
Friday 4 May 2018
Liberal Party apparatchik lays out part of Turnbull Government workplace reform game plan?
More rabid than the most rabid Liberal and Nationals party members elected to the 45th Australian Parliament, former CEO of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry & present inaugural Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Kate Carnell, released a 4 page position paper on 27 April 2018.
On those double-spaced A4s Ms. Carnell managed to lay out the what looks very like an Institute of Pubic Affairs-Coalition Government game plan.
Amongst other things found on this wish list are:
By-pass the Fair Work Commissioners by creating an "online dispute resolution tool as an early intervention to quickly resolve more straightforward termination disputes".
* “small business must
make good [on underpaid wages owed to workers] but there is to be "no prosecution, penalty or fine”.
* “Lower the compensation cap, and reduce the cost and time of conciliation and settlement processes” with “maximum compensation limited to 13 rather than 26 week’s pay”.
* “Lower the compensation cap, and reduce the cost and time of conciliation and settlement processes” with “maximum compensation limited to 13 rather than 26 week’s pay”.
* “Recognise and legally accept the common small business practice of paying a buffer above the minimum award wage on the assumption this will ‘take care’ of additional obligations” so that businesses do not have to meet the full legal conditions of employment.
* “Elevate substantive over procedural matters for unfair dismissal” - after all employers shouldn't have to fully comply with a Fair Work Commission code.
* Provide "free access to legal expertise" for employers, that is free access to private businesses involved in matters before the Fair Work Commission which is funded by the taxpayer.
* “The FWO to review the mechanism for providing definitive [free] advice so small businesses can have certainty and can rely on [in tribunal hearings] when defending a dispute to the FWC”.
* “tackle the behavior [sic] of those who do not do the right thing and gain unfair advantage”.
Earlier in the year on 31 January Ms. Carnell was in the media as Ombudsman decrying any reasonable increase in the national minimum wage.
So there you have it - supressed wages growth and less worker rights are on the agenda in the lead up to the forthcoming federal election.
Former hotelier, Australian Minister for Small and Family Business, the Workplace and Deregulation & current Liberal MP for Reid, Craig Laundy, is also "keen to make life easier for small and family businesses to navigate our complex industrial relations system".
He would be most pleased if businesses would "use their trust and friendship with their workers" to convince them that any changes to industrial relations legislation is going to turn their futures into paradise here on earth.
Monday 23 April 2018
Micaelia Cash's bragging doesn't change the Abbott-Turnbull 'jobs and growth' numbers
On Thursday
19 April 2018 the Australian Minister for Jobs and Innovation and Liberal
Senator for Western Australia Micaelia Cash stated: Since
the Government came to office in September 2013, we have created a total of
996,800 jobs — an increase of 8.7 per cent.
What stands out for this voter is the small degree of change that has actually occurred when it come to those much vaunted 'jobs and growth' policies.
Bottom line is that in the years between the 2013 federal election when the Coalition Government came to power and the present day, the national unemployment rate has only fallen by half a percentage point and there are only four less job seekers competing for each job that becomes available.
Bottom line is that in the years between the 2013 federal election when the Coalition Government came to power and the present day, the national unemployment rate has only fallen by half a percentage point and there are only four less job seekers competing for each job that becomes available.
In January 2014 the Australian
population totalled est. 22.63 million, Tony Abbott had
been prime minister for less than four months and seasonally adjusted there
were an est.11,459,500 employed people across the country. This figure included wage employees, private contractors and business operators.
Up to an est. 1.5 million workers were being paid the National Minimum Wage.
Only 69 per
cent of the 11.54 million had full-time jobs. Full-time employment decreased 7,100 to
7,953,000 and part-time employment increased 3,400 to 3,506,500.
Around 951,000
of these 11.45 million people in employment would be classified as
underemployed, ie. they were employed in less than full-time or regular jobs or
in jobs inadequate with respect to their training or economic needs.
The workforce
participation rate stood at 64.5% and the unemployment rate was 6.0%.
There were est. 728,600 people between 15 and 65 years of age who were
unemployed and looking for work.
A total of 139,100
and 142,700 job vacancies were recorded for the months November 2013 and February 2014 respectively.
In January-February 2014 it was reported that there were 20 job seekers for every position currently available.
In January-February 2014 it was reported that there were 20 job seekers for every position currently available.
In March 2018 the
Australian population totalled est. 24.90 million, Malcolm Turnbull had been prime minister for more than two years
and there were seasonally adjusted an est.12,484,100 employed people across the
country. This figure includes wage employees, private contractors and business
operators.
Up to est. 1.8 million of these workers were being paid the National Minimum Wage.
Only 68 per
cent of the 12.48 million had full-time jobs. Full-time employment decreased 19,900 to
8,514,100 and part-time employment increased 24,800 to 3,970,000.
Around 1.03 million
of these 12.48 million people in employment would be classified as
underemployed, ie. they were employed in less than full-time or regular jobs or
in jobs inadequate with respect to their training or economic needs. It is likely that around 3 per cent of this group were employed in low-paying and insecure jobs via federal government Jobactive placements.
The workforce
participation rate stood at 65.5% and the unemployment rate was 5.5%.
There were est. 730,200 people between 15 and 65 years of age who were unemployed and
looking for work.
There had been 220,800 job vacancies recorded by the end of February 2018.
In March 2018
it was reported that there were 16 job seekers for every position currently
available.
See: Australian Bureau of Statistics Employment and Unemployment,
Labour
Force Australia, Mar 2018, Labour
Force, Australia, Jan 2014, Roy
Morgan Unemployment & Under-employment Estimates (2005-2018), Australian Unemployed Workers Union, ABC News March 2015 and ABC News March 2018.
Labels:
Abbott economics,
jobs,
Turnbull economics,
under employment,
unemployment,
wages
Tuesday 17 April 2018
Fair Work Ombudsman begins another weary audit which will inevitably discover more employers behaving like criminals
Despite wage growth falling to record lows last year, the Australian Minister for Jobs and Innovation WA Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash continues to talk down any need for a substantial national minimum wage increase and praises the good will of employers big and small.
It seems she just refuses to accpet the evidence of her own eyes.......
The Guardian, 11 April 2018:
On Wednesday the Fair
Work Ombudsman announced an audit targeting the fast food, restaurant and cafe
sector which will penalise businesses exploiting vulnerable workers, including
students, casual staff and immigrants.
It follows numerous
high-profile cases of workers being exploited, including a cook who was
employed by Bar Coluzzi in Sydney on a 457 skilled worker visa who was told by
her boss to repay $13,952 of her wages to cover tax and superannuation
contributions. She was also working excessive unpaid overtime.
The convenience story
chain 7-Eleven was found
by a Senate inquiry to have been forcing workers to go to ATMs to
withdraw and pay back wages. The panel investigating 7-Eleven told the inquiry
it had made 188 determinations that 7-Eleven was liable to pay workers a total
of $4.36m, with workers being underpaid an average of $23,000 each.
A Fair Work Ombudsman
spokesman told Guardian Australia that intelligence from a range of sources
found failing to pay the correct hourly base, penalty and overtime rates, and
ignoring record-keeping and payslip requirements were consistent issues.
In 2016–17, 44% of the
hospitality workers assisted by the ombudsman to resolve workplace disputes
were aged under 26, and 31% were visa holders. Despite the hospitality industry
employing around 7% of Australia’s workforce, it accounted for the highest
number (17%) of disputes. It was also the industry with the highest number of
anonymous reports received (36%), infringement notices issued (39%) and court
actions commenced (27%).
While workers under the
age of 25 account for about 15% of the Australian working population, they were
involved in 28% of workplace disputes the ombudsman took on in 2017. Migrant
workers make up 6% of the Australian workforce, however 18% of workplace
disputes involved a visa holder.
The ombudsman has begun
auditing 1,000 businesses across the country and investigators will check the
time and wage records of randomly selected businesses, especially those
employing a large numbers of vulnerable workers. Companies involved in serious
contraventions will face penalties of up to $630,000 per contravention. The
maximum penalty for individuals is now $126,000 per contravention. Failing to
keep employee records or issue pay slips attracts a penalty up to $63,000 for a
company and $12,600 for an individual.
Labels:
Australian society,
exploitation,
Fair Work Commission,
jobs,
wages
Friday 30 March 2018
Corporate tax cuts lead to 'jobs and growth' in Australia? Pull the other one!
This Business Council of Australia survey
was apparently mothballed when initial results indicated that it would reveal
the truth about outcomes flowing from the Turnbull Government’s planned
corporate tax cuts - a distinct lack of jobs and wages growth.
Financial
Review, 27
March 2018:
Fewer than one in five
of Australia's leading chief executives say they will use the Turnbull
government's proposed
company tax cut to directly increase wages or employ more staff,
according to a secret survey conducted by the Business Council of Australia.
More than 80 per cent
said they would either use the proceeds to boost returns to shareholders or
invest in the company.
The explosive revelation
comes as the government is
still struggling to secure the final two Senate votes needed to pass
the remainder of the $65 billion package.
The survey follows a
letter to all Senators last week by the BCA and 10 of the nation's top
chief executive officers in which they pledged to reinvest the proceeds of the
tax cuts with the ultimate aim of increasing wages.
"If the Senate
passes this important legislation we, as some of the nation's largest
employers, commit to invest more in Australia which will lead to employing more
Australians and therefore stronger wage growth as the tax cut takes
effect," the letter said.
But The Australian
Financial Review has learned that the BCA directly surveyed the chief
executives of its 130-plus members about a company tax cut this year, in the
wake of the company tax rate cut in the United States.
The chief executives
were asked which of four options they would nominate as their preferred
response to the company tax cut in Australia.
These were: returning
funds to shareholders; more investment; increasing the wages of their existing
workforce; or increasing employment.
More than 80 per cent
nominated one of the first two options while only 16 per cent to 17 per cent
nominated higher wages or employment.
The survey results are
understood to have been tightly held but were reported on internally in a memo
entitled "the good news and the bad news".
A spokesman for the BCA
confirmed the survey to the Financial Review on Monday but downplayed
its significance…….
This lobby group has now decided that 'spin' is more important than fact and senators have all received a BCA video appeal promising well-paid and meaningful jobs and wages growth that only growing investment can deliver if the comapny tax cits are passed.
A neat trick given that its members are also arguing before the Fair Work Commission Annual Wage Review 2017-18 that the minimum wage should remain as is or only be increased by 34-35 cents an hour which represents no growth in real wages.
The vague, slyly worded non-promise to lift workers wages received by Senators
via @Tony_Burke
Thursday 22 March 2018
Turnbull Government, business and industry still out to suppress minimum wage
According to the Australian Treasury in November 2017;
On a variety of measures, wage growth is low....
However, weaker labour productivity growth seems unlikely to be a cause of the current period of slow wage growth in Australia. Over the past five years, labour productivity in Australia has grown at around its 30-year average annual growth rate....
An examination of wage growth by employee characteristics using the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey and administrative taxation data suggests that recent subdued wage growth has been experienced by the majority of employees, regardless of income or occupation.....
This is true across the
States and Territories, across industries, and across both the public and
private sectors. Real wage growth – wage growth relative to the increase in
prices in the economy – has also been low.
The Reserve Bank of Australia suggests in
its March
Quarter 2017 Bulletin that there is"
...some tentative evidence that the relationship between wage growth and labour market conditions may have changed, and that this may help to explain recent low wage growth. Using job-level micro wage data, we also find that, since 2012, wage increases have been less frequent and wage growth outcomes have become much more similar across jobs.
...some tentative evidence that the relationship between wage growth and labour market conditions may have changed, and that this may help to explain recent low wage growth. Using job-level micro wage data, we also find that, since 2012, wage increases have been less frequent and wage growth outcomes have become much more similar across jobs.
Being paid at the minimum wage rate means that a worker is paid the lowest hourly income for his/her labour that is legally allowable.
At the beginning of the 21st Century (January 2001) the national minimum wage was $10.53 per hour or $400.40 per 38 hour week (before tax).
That represents a rise of $7.76 an hour over the course of 17 years - the equivalent of 45 cents a year.
Not a spectacular hourly base wage growth by any measure.
In March 2018
the Australian Federation of Employers
and Industries (AFEI), Australian
Retailers Association, Restaurant
& Catering Industrial (RCI), Australian
Business Industrial and the NSW Business Chamber Ltd (along with eight other industry representatives) made
initial submissions to the Fair Work
Commission Annual Wage Review 2017-18.
It will come
as no surprise that any decent rise in the minimum wage is being resisted in
these submissions.
A number of business and industry representatives appear to believe that even raising the minimum wage hourly rate by as little as 34-35 cents is an onerous burden.
A number of business and industry representatives appear to believe that even raising the minimum wage hourly rate by as little as 34-35 cents is an onerous burden.
Frequent
mention is made of the supposed part the businesses they represent play in
national ‘jobs and growth’ and the risk wage increases allegedly pose.
A notion
supported by the Turnbull Government’s
own submission.
Couched in polite terms within their submissions is the last resort position of both the federal government and big business.
It seems they are reluctantly willing to accept a minimum wage increase that doesn't rise by more than 1.9% (rate of inflation in December 2017) and definitely resist the idea of a rise that actually results in real wages growth.
Couched in polite terms within their submissions is the last resort position of both the federal government and big business.
It seems they are reluctantly willing to accept a minimum wage increase that doesn't rise by more than 1.9% (rate of inflation in December 2017) and definitely resist the idea of a rise that actually results in real wages growth.
However, there
is another less polite aspect of the part businesses play in the lives of workers and it should be remembered when
listening to business and industry representatives make their wage case during media
appearances.
The Australian Government Fair Work Ombudsman’s 2018 media releases offer a window on that other aspect which includes a widespread contempt for both workers and the law.
Media
release, 16 March
2018:
Western Sydney campaign
reveals high rates of unlawful workplaces
High
rates of non-compliance uncovered by the Fair Work Ombudsman in Western
Sydney have reinforced the importance of ensuring that Australia’s
culturally and linguistically diverse communities have ready access to
workplace information and advice.
The Fair Work Ombudsman
today released the results of its proactive education and compliance campaign
in the region, covering suburbs including Cabramatta, Guildford, Mt Druitt, Fairfield and Merrylands.
Almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of the 197 businesses
audited by the Fair Work Ombudsman during the campaign were found to be
non-compliant with workplace laws.
The campaign led to a
total of $369,324 in unpaid wages and entitlements being recovered for 199
workers.
Sixty-four per cent of
businesses were compliant with record-keeping and payslip requirements, while
just 58 per cent were paying their employees correctly.
The campaign was
initiated following an increase in the number of requests for assistance
received from some parts of the region in previous years, despite an overall
decrease across New South Wales in the same period.
As part of the campaign,
Fair Work inspectors conducted site visits with a particular focus on Harris
Park and Parramatta in response to intelligence received by the
agency indicating potential non-compliance amongst restaurants in the area.
The suburbs are also
home to a higher than average proportion of migrants, with both Harris Park (85
per cent) and Parramatta (74 per cent) at more than twice the national average
of 30.2 per cent.
Acknowledging that new
arrivals to Australia may have a limited awareness of Australian workplace
laws, it was considered that businesses in the region would benefit from
tailored support and education from the Fair Work Ombudsman.
Only two of the 23
businesses visited in these suburbs were found to be fully compliant – a
non-compliance rate of 91 per cent.
Fair Work Ombudsman
Natalie James says the non-compliance rates uncovered by the campaign are
highly concerning and cannot be tolerated.
“Where possible, we seek
to educate employers and employees about their workplace rights and obligations
and equip them with the tools and information they need to ensure they are
complying with the law,” Ms James said.
“This area has a large
proportion of people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds,
who can find it more challenging to navigate that information or even know
where to find it in the first place.
“When combined with a
lack of familiarity with workplace laws, language barriers can present
significant difficulties to employers seeking to understand and comply with
their obligations.
“The results of this
campaign reaffirm the importance of my agency’s work in reaching out to
culturally and linguistically diverse communities to raise awareness of the
help we can provide.
“We are also making more
and more of our tools and resources available in multiple languages, including
our Anonymous
Report function and the Record
My Hours app,” Ms James said.
“Our website can also be
viewed in 40 languages other than English with a simple click of the mouse with
our new
website translator.
“With the wealth of free
information and resources available to help businesses understand their
obligations, there are no excuses for breaching workplace laws.”
Overall, Fair Work
inspectors issued 26 formal cautions, 20 infringement notices (on-the-spot
fines) and 11 compliance notices to non-compliant businesses during the course
of the campaign.
In one matter, a restaurant business was found to be
paying its casual employees under an old award, resulting in a total
underpayment of $10,444 to three employees. Fair Work inspectors issued the
employer with a compliance notice, and the employees were fully back-paid in
accordance with the notice.
Ms James said that
non-compliant businesses were now on notice that future breaches could result
in serious enforcement action.
“We are happy to work
with businesses who require advice and support to meet their workplace
obligations, and we will continue our work to ensure our materials are easily
accessible to those that need them,” Ms James said.
“Indeed, we were pleased
that the employers that we dealt with over the course of this campaign were
cooperative and willing to engage with our inspectors, and that all
contraventions were willingly rectified.
“We will continue to
pursue new initiatives aimed at engaging with businesses in the region to
ensure they have access to the help and information they need.”
Ms James reaffirmed
however that her agency will not hesitate to take action where deliberate or
repeated breaches of the law were identified.
“Employers who fail to
put in place processes to ensure compliance expose themselves to enforcement
action, including litigation in the most serious cases,” Ms James said.
Employers and employees
seeking assistance can visit www.fairwork.gov.au or call the Fair Work Infoline
on 13 13 94. An interpreter service is available on 13 14 50.
Potential workplace
breaches can be anonymously reported in 16 languages other than English using
the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Anonymous Report function at www.fairwork.gov.au/inlanguageanonymousreport.
The Fair Work Ombudsman
recently developed six videos in 16 languages other than English to help visa
holders to understand their workplace rights. These and other in-language
resources are available at www.fairwork.gov.au/languages.
The Fair Work
Ombudsman’s Record
My Hours app is aimed at tackling the persistent problem of
underpayment of vulnerable workers by using geo-fencing technology to provide
workers with a record of the time they spend at their workplace. The app is
available in a number of different languages and can be downloaded from the App
Store and Google Play.
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 .
Sign up to receive the
Fair Work Ombudsman’s media releases direct to your email inbox at www.fairwork.gov.au/mediareleases.
Read the Western
Sydney Campaign report (PDF 445.5KB) [my yellow highlighting]
Media
Release, 5 March
2018:
The Fair Work
Ombudsman’s latest Compliance Activity Report shows a workplace non-compliance
rate of 76 per cent in the Caltex service network…..
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…..
Media
Release, 2 March
2018:
The Fair Work Ombudsman
has commenced legal action against the former franchisee of a 7-Eleven retail
outlet in the Melbourne CBD for allegedly exploiting three international
students through a cash-back scheme.
Facing Court are Xia
Jing Qi Pty Ltd, which operated a 7-Eleven retail store on William Street until
March 2017, and the store’s former manager, Ai Ling “Irene” Lin.
It is alleged that after
7-Eleven head office set up a high-tech payroll system in 2016 aimed at
ensuring employees were paid lawful minimum rates, the company and Ms Lin tried
to disguise underpayments of three employees by requiring them to pay back
thousands of dollars in wages.
The three employees were
Chinese students, aged between 21 and 24, who were in Australia on student
visas. Ms Lin, from Taiwan, was also in Australia on a student visa…..
Media
Release, 27 Feb 2018:
The Fair Work Ombudsman
has brought proceedings relating to redundancy entitlements, in a new legal
action against services company Spotless Services Australia Limited for
allegedly contravening workplace laws when it terminated the employment of
three workers at Perth International Airport.
Media
Release, 26 Feb 2018:
The operator of a Degani
cafĂ© in Melbourne’s north-east is facing Court after he allegedly used false
records to conceal more than $12,000 in underpayments of staff, including
teenagers and overseas workers.
Media
Release, 21 Feb 2018:
The operators of a
Melbourne restaurant have been hit with nearly $200,000 in penalties, after a
Judge ruled they deliberately underpaid workers.
Media
Release, 20 Feb 2018
A Perth security company
has been penalised in Court for underpaying its guards more than $200,000, with
a Judge saying the company’s claim that it thought overpaying in relation to
minimum rates would “counteract” other rates of pay was a “lame excuse”.
Media
Release, 16 Feb 2018:
The operator of a number
of massage parlours in Adelaide who said he was “too busy and lazy” to keep
proper records has been penalised for contraventions of record-keeping and pay
slip laws, following legal action by the Fair Work Ombudsman.
Media
Release, 15 Feb 2018:
The Fair Work Ombudsman
has commenced legal action against a Bundaberg-based transport company for
allegedly underpaying an employee more than $11,000 over a period of just nine
months.
Media
Release, 14 Feb 2018:
Cleaning contractors at
90 per cent of Woolworths’ Tasmanian supermarket sites were not complying with
workplace laws, a Fair Work Ombudsman Inquiry has found.
Media
Release, 13 Feb 2018:
Michael Patrick Pulis, a
business operator who told his employee to “seriously, f**k off…” when the
worker asked when he would receive money owed to him, has been penalised
$21,500.
Judge Grant Riethmuller
also penalised Mr Pulis’ company, Pulis Plumbing Pty Ltd, a further $100,000
after a plumber’s labourer, who was 20 years old at the time, was underpaid by
$26,882 over just three months.
Judge Riethmuller
described the conduct as “outrageous exploitation of a young person”, adding
that the behaviour was “such to arouse much emotion” and “nothing short of
avarice”.
The worker was underpaid
when he was employed by Pulis Plumbing to perform work in the Melbourne, Geelong and Bendigoareas
between September and December, 2014.
Media
Release, 8 Feb 2018:
A Northern Territory
refuge for women and children victims of domestic violence has back-paid 11
employees a total of more than $50,000, after intervention by the Fair Work
Ombudsman.
Media
Release, 6 Feb 2018:
The operator of a remote
Northern Territory homestead is facing major penalties after underpaying 17
employees more than $23,000.
Media
Release, 24 Jan 2018:
A sushi outlet operator
and an accountant have been penalised almost $200,000 for their involvement in
an unlawful internship program that exploited young overseas workers.
Media
Release, 22 Jan 2018:
A Brisbane labour hire
business will face court for allegedly underpaying 10 employees more than
$14,000 through an unlawful unpaid work experience program.
Media
Release, 17 Jan 2018:
Ten truck drivers who
worked for an Adelaide transport company have been back-paid a total of
$374,000 following successful legal action by the Fair Work Ombudsman.
Media
Release, 16 Jan 2018:
The former manager of an
Oliver Brown chocolate cafĂ© outlet on the Gold Coast who was ‘seeing what he
could get away with’ when he exploited overseas workers has been penalised
$27,200.
Media
Release, 12 Jan 2018:
The Fair Work Ombudsman
recently assisted workers at four businesses in suburbs south east of Melbourne
to recover almost $50,000 in unpaid wages and entitlements.
Media
Release, 9 Jan 2018:
A Judge has penalised a
repeat-offender Melbourne childcare operator $85,000 for her latest staff
underpayments, saying she required a “sharp lesson” to make her appreciate her
legal obligations.
Besides wages theft, employers have also developed a penchant for pocketing workers superannuation.
Then there is
the naked exploitation outlined in the November 2017 UNSW-UTS study, WAGE
THEFT IN AUSTRALIA: Findings of the National Temporary Migrant Work Survey:
A substantial proportion
of international students, backpackers and other temporary migrants were paid
around half the legal minimum wage in Australia…..
Underpayment was
widespread across numerous industries but was especially prevalent in food
services, and especially severe in fruit and vegetable picking.
Two in five participants
(38%) had their lowest paid job in cafes, restaurants and takeaway shops. This
was a far greater proportion than for any other type of job….
Large-scale wage theft
was prevalent across a range of industries, but the worst paid jobs were in
fruit- and vegetable-picking and farm work….
The study confirms that
wage theft is endemic among international students, backpackers and other
temporary migrants in Australia. For a substantial number of temporary
migrants, it is also severe.
News.com.au, 30 August 2017:
…it
turns out that Australia’s compulsorary superannuation system has a great big
hole in it — one worth $17 billion.
That’s how much super
employers have dodged paying in the past eight years, according to new figures
released by the ATO this week.
The ATO analysis found
that employees had likely missed out on $2.85 billion of their super guarantee
payments during the 2014/15 financial year, because employers dodged their
obligations, with small business owners among the worst offenders.
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