In the Australian Financial Review‘s article the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union’s (CFMEU) agreement to a 35 per cent cut in earnings at the Griffin Coal mine in Western Australia, reduced mineworkers’ salaries by $50,000 from about $140,000 a year. The article indicated Griffin Coal will put the proposed agreement to its 200 production workers at the Collie mine next weekend after almost a year of negotiations through the Fair Work Commission’s new interest-based bargaining program.

In the article, Fair Work Commission ruling ‘lowers bar’ for acceptable workplace conduct AFR reporter David Marin-Guzman reviewed a series of Fair Work Commission cases where members used their discretionary powers. A series of publications covered the story of construction union official Brad Upton’s matter before the FWC where commissioner Bernie Riordan ruled that a CFMEU mining delegate was unfairly dismissed for abusing workers. The West Australian  and The Australian reported he was banned from building sites, after losing his right of entry permit over racially offensive, abusive and unlawful behaviour.

Also in the AFR, ‘Shadow lawyers’ barred from advising on Fair Work Commission cases. AREEA’s take on this decision is included in this News Update.

The Australian ran a series of articles and opinion pieces about the impact of Palaszczuk’s policies affecting Queensland mining and jobs: Palaszczuk’s green leaning will kill mine and jobs; Queensland election 2017: Palaszczuk’s Adani backflip a gift for LNP.

The ABC’s Four Corners ran an investigative piece by  Four Corners and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists quoting Jim Henry, a New York-based senior adviser to the activist group Tax Justice Network, stating it was no surprise to see mining companies loaded up with debt to avoid tax.