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Small Business News
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Commissioner’s focus on small enterprise contracts
WA’s small business commissioner has slammed utility providers, telcos and other big
corporations for forcing unfair contracts on mum-and-dad owned enterprises. Commissioner
David Eaton will call for greater protection for WA’s 210,000 small business in a Federal
Government review to consider whether they should be treated the same way as individual
customers under certain aspects of Australian consumer law.
In this issue:
 Commissioner’s focus on small
enterprise contracts
 Perth café unlawfully docked staff pay
 We’re all on the tax man’s hit list
 Union moves to overturn ruling on
penalty rates
 Textile union demands ‘go-away’
money
 Are supermarket giants simply too big?
 International Business Council
Activities/Information
Attachments:
 Commissioner’s focus on small
enterprise contracts.pdf
 Abbott must not yield to construction
villains.pdf
 WBA AGM Breakfast.pdf
 SCC Events Newsletter.pdf
Mr Eaton said there were fewer safeguards for small businesses than for individuals in
standard form contracts, which are offered by big business on a take-it-or-leave-it-basis.
(SOURCE/EXTRACT: The West Australian, 23.6.14 for full report see attachment:
Commissioner’s focus on small enterprise contracts.pdf)
Perth café unlawfully docked staff pay
A Perth cafe must pay thousands of dollars in compensation and penalties for illegally
deducting money from the wages of its employees over minor errors. Responding to
complaints from four staff, Fair Work Ombudsman found the Subiaco business had regularly
docked the wages of its employees, including deducting $100 each time they were more than
five minutes late for their rostered shifts. (SOURCE/EXTRACT: WA Business News, 27.6.14)
We’re all on the tax man’s hit list
So, who is the ATO targeting this year?
Tradies (they always target tradies), anyone working from home and anyone claiming a workrelated expense. In other words, we're all on the hit list this year. And this year they have the
computing power to check the legitimacy of every single tax return.
The ATO operates under a self-reporting system, which means it's totally up to you what you
put on your tax return. But, the ATO boffins also data-match 640 million separate transactions
– cross-referencing bank accounts, share certificates, Centrelink payments and more.
The result was that last year the ATO sent out 500,000 please explain letters, netting an
additional $973 million from taxpayers. The rules around what you can legitimately claim as
work-related expenses are as strict as they are varied, but there is one golden rule - no
receipt, no deduction. (SOURCE/EXTRACT: The Sunday Times, 22.5.14)
Union moves to overturn ruling on penalty rates
A NATIONAL union has launched Federal Court action in a bid to overturn a contentious Fair
Work Commission decision to cut the Sunday pay of casual restaurant workers.
Revealing the court action yesterday, United Voice attacked last month’s commission
decision, which the Abbott government has hailed and employer groups have seized on to try
to give momentum to their campaign to reduce penalty rates.
Acting national secretary David O’Byrne linked the Fair Work Commission decision to strident
employer criticism of commission decisions and the government proposal to impose an
appeals body over the tribunal. The government is due to make a decision soon on whether
to establish the new body, which follows employer claims that the previous Labor government
stacked the tribunal with pro-union appointees. If it goes ahead, the body, headed by a
Coalition appointee, would establish a new avenue for appeal against commission rulings.
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DISCLAIMER: The information appearing in
The CoSBA BROADCAST is for affiliates of the
Combined Small Business Alliance of WA
(CoSBA). The information is sourced from
various sources including public records. Whilst
every effort is made to ensure the probity of the
information, CoSBA accepts no liability for
accuracy, errors or omissions, or for any injury to
any user of the information.
NEXT MEETING: BOARD MEETING
NECA Board Room, Unit 18, 199 Balcatta Road,
BALCATTA
5.00pm, Monday 4 August 2014
Combined Small Business Alliance of Western Australia Inc. (CoSBA)
PO Box 2237, MIDLAND DC. WA 6936
President: Les Marshall, Vice President: Stephen Knight, Secretary/Treasurer: Terry Bright
Chief Executive Officer: Oliver Moon. Phone: 9250 3549/0408 957 381
CoSBA website: www.cosba.com.au Email: ceo@cosba.com.au
THE CoSBA BROADCAST - 23 March 2016
Page 2
The Nifnex [Business] Review, go to: www.nifnex.com.au
Employers pushing for the creation of the new appeals body have said they hoped it would be more sympathetic to their arguments,
including their bid to have deeper cuts to penalty rates. While the full bench said the 50 per cent penalty rate paid to restaurant employees
on Sunday was generally appropriate, it ruled that an additional 25 per cent loading paid to casuals tended to overcompensate
introductory-level casual workers.
As a result of the decision, which is due to apply from July 1, those workers on the lower classifications will have their pay cut by about $4
an hour, or 14 per cent, for Sunday work. Retailers have said the commission decision had caused “excitement’’ among employers who
would seek to use it to try to cut penalty rates applying in other sectors. (SOURCE/EXTRACT: The Australian, 20.6.14)
Textile union demands ‘go-away’ money
THE national textile workers union has sought hundreds of thousands of dollars from fashion -employers to settle legal action, prompting
accusations of extortion and blackmail from Employment Minister Eric Abetz.
Law firm Slater & Gordon, on behalf of the union, has written to 23 companies offering to drop Federal Court action alleging breaches of
federal award provisions if they sign a deed that -includes a condition they each pay $30,000 within 14 days.
The law firm told employers the money — $690,000 if all the companies agreed — would not be paid -directly to workers, but to the union
to fund its compliance -activities as well as the education and support of outworkers. The companies targeted by the union own many
leading fashion labels including Mariana Hardwick, Drizabone and Ripe Maternity. The Textile Clothing & Footwear Union of Australia
alleged the companies had failed to abide by minimum legal standards.
Senator Abetz accused it of ­attempting to “shake down’’ employers because it was ­financially struggling. Financial reports lodged with the
Fair Work Commission show an operating loss of $77,797 in 2011 and $60,157 in 2012. “This kind of extortion by the TCFUA isn’t to
support workers, it’s to prop up the union bosses at head office,’’ the minister said. The union was using legal proceedings to try to solicit
“go-away money”.
“It is deeply concerning the TCFUA appear to be abusing the court process in their bid to blackmail funding out of employers.’’ In a
statement last night, the union’s national secretary, Michele O’Neil, said Senator Abetz’s comments were “outrageous and defamatory”.
(SOURCE/EXTRACT: The Weekend Australian, 21.6.14)
Are supermarket giants simply too big?
HIS hands quivered as he spilled the beans. Chatting with investigators from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, the
grocery supplier was so nervous he started shaking. “Nobody would talk to us about anything,’’ ACCC chairman Rod Sims recalls of the
two-year investigation that culminated in the regulator’s prosecution of Coles supermarkets for allegedly bullying suppliers.
“Then we promised suppliers we would protect their confidentiality, and we got nearly 50 people who came through the door to talk to us.
Some of them did so quivering — they were coming to us, trusting us to keep it confidential, but their livelihood was at stake. “They were
all worried about the consequences of talking to us. Our people with a lot of experience in this area had never quite seen this sort of
reaction before.’’
The pledge of secrecy meant the ACCC could not use its suppliers’ information as evidence in its landmark case, which Coles is contesting
in the Federal Court. Instead, the regulator is relying on “section 155’’ notices to procure documents and compel suppliers and
supermarket executives to give evidence in a case that is expected to last all year.
The ACCC alleges that Coles demanded $16 million worth of “rebate’’ payments from 200 small and medium-sized suppliers — and
threatened “commercial consequences’’ for those that refused to cough up. It claims Coles “took advantage of its superior bargaining
position’’ to exert “undue influence and pressure and unfair tactics’’.
A Coles spokesman said yesterday the company would “vigorously defend’’ the case but declined to comment further. The ACCC has
locked horns with the grocery giants several times this year. Wesfarmers boasts 756 Coles supermarkets, 810 bottle shops, 636 petrol
stations and convenience stores, 92 hotels, 313 Bunnings Warehouse hardware stores, 150 Officeworks stores, 190 Kmart and 308 Target
chain stores, and 263 tyre and car servicing centres. It recently branched out into cut-price insurance and is flirting with a move into
banking.
Woolworths Ltd owns 897 super-markets, 181 Big W chain stores, 1355 bottle shops, 323 hotels-, 31 Masters hardware stores, 613 petrol
stations and 50 optometry outlets. Its property development division has built 100 shopping centres. Together, the conglomerates employ
400,000 Australians, one in three of the nation’s retail workers. In some cases their clout has improved the range and quality of food: Coles
mandated hormone-free beef and RSPCA--approved chickens, banned sow-stall pork from its home-brand range, reduced salt in its
breakfast cereals, and removed MSG and arti-ficial colours from private-label goods.
Manufacturers and suppliers fear the supermarket will stop stocking their product unless they comply. “They never say blatantly they will
delete you, but we all know that person sitting in that (buyer’s) seat has all the power to make or break your business,’’ explains the owner
THE
BROADCAST
- 23 March
2016
Page 3
of one CoSBA
supplier, whose
product has been replaced
with private
labels in both supermarket chains. “Eighty per cent of your turnover comes
from Coles and Woolies.”
Suppliers hope a new industry code of conduct — endorsed by the supermarkets and awaiting federal government approval to become
legally binding — will level the playing field. The code will ban retrospective changes to contracts, and stop supermarkets from charging
suppliers for shrinkage or wastage when goods are damaged in-store.
Retailers will be prohibited from charging suppliers to have their product stocked, or displayed in a certain shelf space, apart from
promotions or “specials’’. Products can be delisted only for “genuine commercial reasons’’, such as quality problems or failing to meet preagreed sales targets.
The grocery giants’ dominance is also being examined in the Abbott government’s competition-policy review, the first since Fred Hilmer’s
inquiry two decades ago. Wesfarmers has told the review, chaired by economist Ian Harper, that “big is not bad’’. Sims thinks the
Xenophon bill’s proposed divestiture powers would be “an awfully big stick to use’’.
But he does appear to champion changes to section 46 of the Competition and Consumer Act, which prohibits a corporation with a
“substantial degree” of market power from using it “for the purpose of’’ eliminating or damaging a competitor, or preventing or deterring
competition. A new “effects test’’ would let the ACCC prosecute companies over the misuse of market power that has the effect of
damaging a rival, without needing to prove that the damage was deliberate.
Sims insists that size is not the problem. “Of course big is not bad,’’ he says. “But if you’re using your position to exclude others from the
market, that’s where you cross the line. We’re not out to penalise big companies but the bigger you get, the more you have to ensure you
don’t engage in exclusionary conduct.’’ (SOURCE/EXTRACT: The Weekend Australian, 21.6.14)
International Business Council Activities/Information
For IBC activities/information go to the IBC web site at: http://www.ibcwa.org.au or contact them at: E-Mail: ibcwa@iinet.net.au
Fax: 9356 9437 Tel: 9451 9449 Mob: 0413 437 708
PO Box 691, BENTLEY WA 6982
To read more on the following recently added articles, go to http://www.ibcwa.org.au/ <http://www.ibcwa.org.au/>
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