AUSTRALASIAN MEAT INDUSTRY EMPLOYEES UNION

DELEGATES BULLETIN                                                                June 2011

Dear Delegate,

In the last month our Branch executive has endorsed several things affecting the Union as follows:

ADVERSE ACTION

In our last bulletin and newsletter we spoke about adverse action, the new law under the Fair Work Act.

Many delegates have asked for more information about it so I will go into more detail here for all delegates.

Adverse action is essentially about action that is taken by your employer against someone because they join a union or complain about conditions etc.

It comes as a 2 part test and just because an employer does something that fits the description of adverse action by doing a particular thing, it is only adverse action if it is done for a particular reason.

In other words, just because an employer takes an action against someone that affects them adversely, it is not necessarily adverse action unless it is done for one of the prohibited reasons.

It is a cause and affect arrangement.  The law reads that the trigger for adverse action is that the person affected is exercising a workplace right.  It then goes on to describe what those workplace rights are.

The second part is that the employers action in response is a direct consequence of the employee exercising that workplace right, and it affects the employee adversely.  That means that the employee is penalised in some material way.

WORKPLACE RIGHT

As set out in our general newsletter workplace rights include the right to join a Union, become a Union representative, complain about working conditions, enterprise bargain, engage in a protected action ballot or protected action and so on.

The law is fairly broad in its application here.

PROHIBITED ACTIONS

Again this is a very broad law and takes into account all sorts of actions by the employer in very broad terms.

Effectively if the employee is materially damaged by the action, such as loss of pay, loss of conditions etc then the action is considered to be adverse.

Putting you on a job you don’t like would not on its own constitute adverse action as most of us are employed to obey lawful instructions as to what work we do.

However, simply paying a slaughterer for instance as a slaughterer and sending them to work in by products as punishment for exercising a workplace right probably would constitute adverse action.

It is a good and useful law but you must remember to engage both parts of the trigger, that is both cause and affect, before it is adverse action for this purpose.

ELECTIONS

A quick reminder that June is election of delegate’s time of year.  The Organisers from both states will be conducting the annual elections of site delegates during this months visit to the factories.