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Minna
Knight (Director,
Media, Public Affairs and Member Services)
Ph 0429
143 449 / 0407 636
153 / 07 3210 0313
Email minna.knight@amma.org.au
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2010
23 February
2010
The
Industrial Relations policies the Federal Government and Opposition plan to
take to the next Federal election should be released now according to the
nation's resources and energy sectors leading employer organisation. Chief
Executive of the Australian Mines and Metals Association, Steve Knott, has today called on both the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and Opposition Leader,
Tony Abbott, to engage in debate and discussion with the Australian public over
the future direction of issues in Australian workplaces.
Read
more…
19 February
2010
Today's revelation that Mr Yoshifumi
Nakata, Nippon Steel's Australian boss, had said he was "afraid and very
concerned" about the escalation of industrial action in Australia's
resource and energy sector has been described as a "sobering wake up
call" by the sectors leading employer organisation … Chief Executive, Steve Knott, said it was imperative the Government heed this wake up call and review the
legislative framework so as to ensure sufficient measures were in place to stop
damaging industrial and union activity that was not in the national interest.
Read
more…
8 February
2010
The resources and energy sector’s peak
employer body, AMMA, today welcomed moves to focus on attracting more highly
skilled workers into Australia.
AMMA Chief Executive, Steve Knott,
said there was currently a shortfall of skilled professional staff, mechanical
and electrical engineering personnel, as well as a shortage of other skilled
trades in the resource and energy sector.
Read
more…
2 February
2010
The
so called 'agreement' in settlement of a three month dispute between the MUA
and vessel operators in Australia's offshore oil and gas sector has created a
worrying precedent according to AMMA, the national employers' organisation for
the resources and energy sector.
Read
more…
27 January 2010
Comments
made today by MUA Assistant National Secretary, Warren Smith, about the status
of negotiations between the MUA and vessel operator Total Marine Services have
been described as "a fabrication" by AMMA. AMMA Chief Executive,
Steve Knott, said Mr Smith's allegations that the company had walked away from
a pre-agreed position was patently false, and that Mr Smith was clearly
fabricating the truth in an attempt to further damage relations between the
company and its employees.
Read
more…
27 January 2010
It
has been confirmed today the MUA will now be taking a further forty eight hours
of strike activity against a vessel operator in the offshore oil and gas sector
from Monday – in addition to a 48 hour round of strike activity due to commence
this coming Friday. AMMA Chief Executive, Steve Knott said vessel operators in
the oil and gas sector have been negotiating in good faith for over fourteen
months now.
Read
more…
8 January 2010
While a range of Federal
Cabinet Minister’s appear to be tripping over themselves to get their hands on
the latest literary offering of the Prime Minister, entitled Jasper and Abby
and the Great Australia Day Kerfuffle, one of the nation’s peak resource and
energy sector employer organisations is urging they read a far more weighty
document.
Read
more…
7 January 2010
A decision by the MUA to
proceed with a further round of disruptive strike activity in the oil and gas
sector has highlighted the failings of the Federal Government's "Fair
Work" regime in it's very first week of full operation according to a peak
resource sector employer organisation.
Read
more…
2009
18 December 2009
The Deputy Prime Minister has been called on
to intervene in an ongoing industrial dispute over a claim for up to 100% pay
rise between a range of Australian vessel operators and the Maritime Union of
Australia.
Read
more…
4 December 2009
Australia’s peak mining and resources employer body, AMMA, has
revealed today union bosses in charge of the MUA are now recklessly forcing
workers to go out on strike against more employers involved in the offshore oil
and gas industry in Western Australia …AMMA Chief Executive Steve Knott said
the latest strike activity, set to shut down offshore vessel operations for 48
hours at Total Marine Services from Friday, was a worrying development that had
the potential to threaten the livelihoods of thousands of other hard working
Australians and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Read
more…
27 November 2009
The
Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) has been accused of hypocrisy by the peak
resources and energy association, AMMA following confirmation the MUA is now
proceeding with a further round of strike action against a company operating in
the offshore oil and gas sector this coming weekend.
Read
more…
19 November 2009
AMMA urges politicians of all political
persuasions to sit down and ‘strike a deal’ on a final range of amendments
needed to see the passage of legislation which would create a single national
industrial relations scheme. AMMA’s Chief Executive Steve Knott said employers
had been waiting for nearly a decade to see the passage of legislation which
would eliminate artificial barriers between the states when it came to
employment issues.
Read
more…
17 November 2009
An urgent
meeting of Fair Work Australia organised to head-off two days of potential
strike action in the oil and gas sector has concluded with the MUA still intent
on taking action for two days commencing on Tuesday - after nearly a decade of
industrial harmony … AMMA Chief Executive, Steve Knott, described the MUA’s
reluctance to take a sensible approach to negotiations “an immense
disappointment to the company and a worrying precedent to the industry and the
economy”.
Read
more,,,
13 November 2009
The peak
national employer body representing Australia’s resources and energy sector,
the Australian
Mines and
Metals Association (AMMA) has accused the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) of
reckless
and
destructive conduct following confirmation that it will take strike action in
the offshore oil and gas
sector.
Read
more...
15 September 2009
A recent
union advertising campaign opposing Australia’s move towards adopting
a uniform
set of national occupational health and safety laws has drawn criticism
from the
Australian Mines and Metals Association.
AMMA
Chief Executive, Steve Knott, said the union sponsored radio campaign
was a
clear attempt to only delay the much needed reform but also point the
finger of
blame at the feet of employers.
Read more…
31 August 2009
AMMA’s chief executive Steve Knott has raised
significant concerns about changes to the building regulator laws and watering
down of the accompanying code at a time when the sector is managing billion
dollar construction projects.
Read
more…
1 July 2009
AMMA’s chief executive Steve Knott says that
the new Fair Work Australia regime should not be exploited by overzealous union
activities which attempted to test out the new laws and test the powers of what
unions can now get away with.
Read
more…
18 June 2009
AMMA
has commended DPM Julia Gillard as being ‘a considered and driving force behind
the much needed award modernisation process’.
‘The
DPM gave AMMA and its members a pre-election commitment that our systems of
work would not be altered via the award modernization process, and the Minister
has honoured this commitment.'
Read
more…
17 June 2009
Proposed changes to Australia’s building industry watchdog, tabled in Parliament today, will replace the
existing industry watchdog with a Milli Vanilli version according to the
Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA).
AMMA CEO Steve Knott
said the recent public argy-bargy being played out between the Rudd Government
and the union movement had cleverly diverted attention away from the fact that
the effectiveness and powers of the current building watchdog are to be
significantly watered down.
Read
more…
3 April 2009
AMMA's Chief
Executive Steve Knott has warned that the recommendations handed down today in
the long-awaited Wilcox Report will make a mockery out of the Rudd Government's
pledge to keep a 'tough cop on the beat'.
Read
more…
20 March 2009
The resources sector has slammed Australia’s new industrial
relations system, describing it as the greatest increase in union power since
Federation.
According to the Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA),
which represents Australia’s blue chip mining, oil and gas companies, the new
system is more about resuscitating an ailing union movement than saving jobs.
Read
more…
13 March 2009
Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA), the national
employers’ organisation for the resources sector, says that yesterday’s rising
jobless statistics confirms that domestic policy responses must be urgently
reassessed to take cost pressures off business.
Read
more…
10 March 2009
The peak national industry body representing Australia’s resources
sector, the Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA), has welcomed the
Opposition’s decision to oppose various union power grabs proposed by the
Government; powers that were not part of the ALP’s pre-election policy.
AMMA Chief Executive Steve Knott said the extraordinary increase
in union powers buried away in the Fair Work Bill was rightly being challenged
by the Opposition and various non-government Senators.
Read
more…
14 January
2009
The peak
national employer body representing Australia’s resources sector, the
Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) has today recommended to the
Senate a series of amendments to the Fair Work Bill that will address the
sector’s concerns in relation to excessive union powers and the new bargaining
framework, yet ensure Australian workers continue to have access to a proper
safety net.
Read
more…
2008
19 December
2008
The peak
national employer body representing Australia’s resources sector, the
Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) has welcomed today’s release by
the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) of the modern mining
industry award.
“Putting to
one side our ongoing concerns about many aspects of the proposed Fair Work
legislation, the mining industry modern award may indeed be a workable
alternative to an AWA, albeit without protection from industrial action or
entry to worksites from uninvited unions,” said AMMA Chief Executive Steve
Knott.
Read
more…
10 December
2008
The peak national employer body representing Australia’s resources sector, the Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) has slammed the
Government’s new IR system at a meeting of hundreds of Western Australian
mining companies in Perth earlier today.
‘The Fair Work Bill introduced today is more about resuscitating
an ailing union movement, not improving business conditions and job prospects
for ordinary Australians’, said AMMA’s Chief Executive, Steve Knott.
Read
more…
14 November
2008
In an address to the ALLA Conference in Melbourne today,
Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard has acknowledged AMMA's role in convincing
her to abandon the idea of including a sunset date for old agreements in the
new workplace relations legislation to be introduced into Parliament in
December.
Read
more…
10 November
2008
The
Safe Work Australia Bill 2008 will again be subject to Senate
parliamentary review this week.
As
with industrial relations legislation, removing OHS duplication and overlap and
various inconsistencies between states remains vitally important.
‘Harmonisation
of national OHS legislation will improve OHS outcomes in Australia, reduce the regulatory burden for business and enhance Australia’s productivity
performance’, Mr Knott Chief Executive of the Australian Mines and Metals
Association (AMMA) said today.
AMMA
calls on the Senate to pass by the Safe Work Bill 2008 without further
delay.
Read
more…
30 October
2008
In
response to recent media speculation about Labor’s new IR system, Australia’s
mining,
oil and gas industry has described any move by the Government towards the
unilateral
termination of existing industrial agreements in workplaces as the
equivalent
of a ‘dirty bomb’.
‘The
unilateral termination of all existing agreements would force employers to
bargain
all over again to retain existing flexibilities, and conversely could result in
employees
falling back to minimum award wages well below previously agreed
rates’
said AMMA’s Director of Workplace Policy, Chris Platt.
Read
more…
16 October
2008
‘The
pantomime being played out by unions, ALP branches and Government backbenchers
calling for the immediate scrapping of the ABCC is damaging investment
confidence. The Government should bring this to an end now by confirming the
ABCC will remain until 1 February 2010, but more importantly, it should advise
that the existing powers and functions of the ABCC will be incorporated into
the soon to be created specialist division of Fair Work Australia for a minimum
of five years’, Mr Steve Knott, Chief Executive of the Australian Mines and
Metals Association (AMMA) said today.
Read
more…
20 June 2008
The Australian Industrial Relations
Commission’s (the Commission) decision to include mining on the priority list
of industries for award modernisation has been welcomed by Australian Mines and
Metals Association (AMMA).
‘The decision of the Commission recognises the significance
of the resources sector to the Australian economy and will assist the industry
to make an orderly transition to the new industrial relations system that will
commence in January 2010’, Mr Steve Knott, Chief Executive of AMMA said today.
Read
more…
13 February
2008
The Government’s Workplace Relations Amendment (Transition to
Forward Fairness) Bill 2008 introduced by Deputy Prime
Minister Gillard today reflects policy statements made by the ALP prior to 24
November 2007 federal election.
‘The Bill contains no surprises. Despite abolishing new
AWAs, the resources sector is pleased that the Government has not succumbed to
the demands of some unions to make more radical changes’, Mr Steve Knott Chief
Executive of Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) said today.
Read
more …
2007
21 November 2007
The federal Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations,
Joe Hockey, has presented the Australian Mines and Metals Association with an
award as a Workplace Innovator for services to the resources sector and
promotion of innovative agreement making through employee engagement. Chief
Executive Steve Knott accepted the award on behalf of AMMA.
Read
more …
7 November 2007
The Australian Mines and Metals Association has welcomed the
workplace relations policy proposals announced today by Workplace Relations
Minister Joe Hockey. In particular AMMA welcomes the proposal to retain the
full range of agreement making options for employers and employees and provide
employers with protections against wild cat and illegal industrial action
organised by union militants.
Read
more …
8 October 2007
The Australian Mines and Metals Association re-examines its analysis of
the ALP industrial relations policy in the light of the policy additions
contained in the party’s Forward
with Fairness Implementation Plan and finds that the ALP policy still comes up short in
several key areas.
Read
more …
17 September 2007
The
Australian
Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) has today released a study of employee
engagement within the resource sector titled Employee Engagement – A lifetime
of opportunity. The report advocates the retention of the existing industrial
relations framework (and in particular AWAs) and encourages employers to work
with their employees to improve engagement levels and business outcomes.
Read
more…..
29
August 2007
Labor’s
Industrial relations plans released yesterday will give unions access to all
Australian worksites to recruit non-union members.
Australian
Mines and Metals Association Chief Executive Steve Knott stated ‘If you abolish
AWAs the existing union right of entry system that excludes unions from right
of entry to AWA sites goes out the window.
Read
more…..
28
August 2007
Today’s
IR announcement from the ALP still represents an anti business, transition to
the past approach to industrial relations.
AMMA
Chief Executive, Steve Knott today stated “It is not in the national interest
to abolish the current workplace relations system to one that belongs to a
bygone era.”
Read
more…..
25
July 2007
The
Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) today welcomed the release of a
study commissioned by the Australian Building and Construction Commission into
the economic impact of the ABCC’s role in the construction industry. AMMA
particularly welcomed the report’s finding that the BCII and the ABCC framework
could not operate effectively in the absence of the Workplace Relations
Amendment (WorkChoices) Act 2005.
Read
more …
11
July 2007
With the
prospect of a significant change to the workplace relations environment due to
the upcoming federal election, Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA)
has undertaken a detailed analysis of the workplace relations policies of the
Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the Coalition. This document is called An
Analysis of Coalition and ALP Workplace Relations Policies and applies a
rating between zero and four to each workplace relations policy position of the
ALP and the Coalition. The lower the score the less the policy meets the needs
of the resources sector.
Read
more…..
5
July 2007
In
its bid to deny Australian mining sector employers and employees the right to
enter into statutory individual contracts the ALP seeks to justify its position
by pointing to outdated and unreliable statistics about the number of mining
AWAs.
The
Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) believes that in the debate over
AWAs in the mining industry, the ALP continues to miss the point.
Read
more
2
July 2007
The Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA), Australia’s only national employer association serving the resource sector and allied
industries, today released a research paper titled Constructing Lawful
Workplaces. The paper highlights that Australia’s reduced rates of industrial
action are due to long
term industrial changes which have made parties responsible for their actions.
Read
More…..
5
June 2007
‘Sharan Burrow’s attempt to impugn Australia’s international
business reputation
for political purposes is reprehensible’ Mr. Steve Knott Chief
Executive of
Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) said today.
Read
more….
15
May 2007
In the fight to restore privileges to union bosses, Greg
Combet (ACTU Secretary - ALP Candidate) has today accused the resources
industry of undermining worker collective bargaining and union
membership rights. 'Nothing could be further from the truth, Mr Combet’s
comments are just plain wrong', Mr Steve Knott, Chief Executive of Australian
Mines and Metals Association (AMMA), said today.
Read
more…..
24
April 2007
The Australian
Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) has today released the AMMA Workplace
Relations Policy Scorecard, which uses criteria divided into seven broad policy
areas to ‘score’ how well the workplace relations policies of the differing
parties vying for government in the upcoming federal election meet the needs
and expectations of the resources sector.
Read
more……
3
April 2007
The Australian
Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) believes the Australian Bureau of
Statistics report released today (Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade
Union Membership (August 2006)) highlights the need for Australia to have a
modern industrial relations system that contains a full range of agreement
making options, this includes collective non union agreements and AWAs.
Read
more……
30
March 2007
AMMA, Australia’s national resource sector employer association, has released a paper delivered
to the Industrial Relations Society of Australia’s 2007 National Conference by
AMMA’s General Manager Workplace Policy, Christopher Platt, reiterating the
resources sector’s call for the ALP Industrial Relation policy to provide a
complete range of agreement making options including statutory individual
contracts.
Read
more……
22
March 2007
AMMA, Australia’s national resource sector employer association, has today released a review of
Australian Workplace Agreements in the resources sector aptly titled, “AWAs – A
Major Matter for Miners”. The paper was been released at AMMA’s 2007 National
Conference, being held at the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre on 22 and 23
March.
Read
more……
22
March 2007
The
2007 AMMA National Conference is being held at the Perth Exhibition Convention
Centre on 22 and 23 March and will undoubtedly be this year’s most important
event for employee relations within Australia’s resources sector.
Read
more…
2006
29
June 2006
‘The
comment by Opposition Leader Kim Beazley on the ABC’s AM program this morning
that AWAs can easily be replaced by common law contracts is wrong’, Mr Steve
Knott, Chief Executive of Australian Mines and Metals Association, said today.
Read
more…
22
June 2006
Australia’s national employer
association for the resource and allied industries, the Australian Mines and
Metals Association (AMMA) has called on the federal ALP to rethink their
opposition to Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs).
Read more…
22
June 2006
The Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA), Australia’s key national employer representative in the resources and allied industries
believes the Independent Contractors Legislation introduced to parliament today
is a key step forward in the protection of the rights of contractors in the
workforce.
Read
more…
29
May 2006
Recent
media comments by the ALP and various union representatives claiming that Australia’s new workplace laws will compromise the Occupational Health and Safety
(OH&S) of employees in the mining industry and other industry sectors are
untrue.
“Such
comments are an unnecessary political distraction from the main focus of
improving Australia’s OH&S performance,” Mr Steve Knott, Chief Executive
Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) said today.
Read
more…