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View Full Version : CFMEU takes Rio Tinto to court over two-tiered redundancies - there's a lot at stake



Newshound
29-01-2013, 03:20 PM
Resources giant Rio Tinto's decision to give non-union coal miners tens of thousands more in redundancy payouts could have wider industry repercussions if a union's legal challenge succeeds.

Operations at the Blair Athol open-cut mine, near Clermont in central Queensland, finished in November 2012, following a 28-year production run that saw coal shipped to Japan.

But workers on individual contracts were given much more generous payouts than those on collective agreements.

The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) has filed a claim in the Federal Court's NSW registry, arguing the differing levels of redundancy pay discriminate against union members, and are in breach of the Fair Work Act.

Read more ... (http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-business/rio-tinto-defends-twotiered-redundancies-20130123-2d72x.html)

Moz
30-01-2013, 11:30 AM
All the news I have read about this issue seems to raise concern for employers, but surely there is also a big risk here for the union if they lose.

If the courts decide that Rio's different redundancy payments were legal, then the message to union members is that the CFMEU's representation resulted in them being much worse than none union members!