The CEO wroughts the system, the staff wrought the system.
And the customers tell them all to get fucked.
What could be better?
http://www.afr.com/news/policy/industrial-relations/australia-post-warned-by-turnbull-government-over-fraud-allegations-20161130-gt1b4n
Australia Post warned by Turnbull government over fraud allegations
Australia Post has been told by the Turnbull government that it needs to keep costs under control after an ex-manager claimed there was widespread fraud in the company's workers' compensation scheme.
Communications Minister Mitch Fifield said Australia Post had assured him the scheme was being run in accordance with the law, a position contradicted by allegations to Comcare last month from a former manager in Australia Post's workers' compensation department.
Comcare said this week that it was investigating the complaint, which alleges that the company allowed the union to exercise a veto over compensation claims for workplace injuries from members of its 37,000 staff.
"I expect Australia Post to responsibly manage the costs of running the business, and to comply with its legislative requirements," Senator Fifield said in an email to The Australian Financial Review.
"Australia Post has advised me that it will cooperate with Comcare's investigation of the complaint mentioned in the article, and will update me on the outcomes of this process."
The allegations are embarrassing to Australia Post chief executive Ahmed Fahour, who has been raising prices to cover big losses. Mr Fahour earned around $4 million last year, making him the highest-paid government employee.
Union bullying
The government has no managerial control over the business, which it owns. But Senator Fifield's statement suggests it is concerned by reports that a union leader from NSW, Jim Metcher, bullied the company into accepting claims of his members and cancelling a plan to rein in compensation costs dubbed Project Dove.
Australia Post says its workers' compensation bill fell to $21.7 million last financial year from $22.1 million the year before. But the accounts show that last year it set aside $140 million to cover short and long-term liabilities from workers' compensation claims.
The complaint to Comcare, which oversees the Australia Post workers' compensation scheme, alleges that two thirds of employees at a mail-sorting centre in the outer Melbourne suburb of Dandenong have filed compensation claims.
An official at the Victorian Communication Workers Union, Joan Doyle, said many of the employees at Dandenong had worked there 20 years doing repetitive work on badly designed machines. She complained injured staff usually only got a few months of "light duties" and their painkillers paid for.
The complaint alleges breaches of the Safety Rehabilitation and Compensation Act, the Work, Health and Safety Act and the Australian Postal Corporation Act.
"I ask that you please investigate these matters as a matter of urgency and for the protection of all Australia Post staff exposed to these unsavoury practices," the complaint says.
A company spokeswoman said: "We have not been formally notified of this matter, but would fully cooperate with Comcare if asked."
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http://www.afr.com/news/policy/industrial-relations/australia-post-workers-comp-is-giant-rort-says-whistleblower-20161128-gsyyt9
Australia Post workers' comp is giant rort, says whistleblower
Australia Post's main union effectively controlled its workers' compensation scheme, which is racked by fraud and costs as much as 10 times more than schemes in comparable companies, according to a confidential complaint being investigated by Comcare.
The complaint by a former manager in the workers compensation department says Jim Metcher, the head of the NSW postal division of the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union, pressured Australia Post into dropping a plan to rein in workers' compensation costs.
Thirty-eight per cent of Australia Post's 36,743 employees have claimed workers' compensation, the complaint says. At a mail-sorting centre in the outer-Melbourne suburb of Dandenong, two-thirds of staff have sought workers' compensation payments and 43 per cent of claims across the company may be fraudulent, it says.
"Australia Post has widespread workers' compensation fraud," it says. "Australia Post could be more than profitable if they were to manage their workforce within legislative frameworks.
"Australia Post are diverting monies into provisions to give the illusion that they are running at a loss when in reality they are more than profitable."
A Comcare spokesman confirmed it is investigating some of the manager's complaints, which it received a month ago, and had referred others to its regulator, the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission.
Well-paid CEO
The investigation could embarrass Australia Post, which has used higher postal charges to offset big losses, including $222 million last year, because it suggests chief executive Ahmed Fahour could do more to reduce costs.
Mr Fahour declined to comment but a spokeswoman said: "Australia Post categorically rejects any allegation that any third party has undue influence over the independently audited and regulated workers' compensation scheme.
"This scheme is held to the high standards expected by Comcare and is audited under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act. It is regularly reviewed to strengthen existing processes in the interest of our workers."
Australia Post has its own workers' compensation department to assess and pay. It doesn't use an insurer, and had a $222 million bank line of credit to cover expected claims, according to its last annual report. Last year it set aside $140.8 million to cover expected claims, or $3832 for each employee.
Workplace injuries cost the government-owned enterprise $250 million a year, compared with $25 million to $40 million for similar-sized private companies, the complaint says.
Overruled
Mr Metcher, who the union said last week had temporarily stood down while he was investigated over historic domestic violence charges, used influence with senior Australia Post executives to convince them to overrule decisions by the workers' compensation department, the complaint said.
The executive who made the complaint described being asked in a job interview how they would manage demands from Mr Metcher. When they said they would follow the law governing workers' compensation claims, everyone else in the room started laughing.
About 50 per cent of the executive's three job interviews were spent discussing Mr Metcher and his influence over Australia Post, according to the complaint to Comcare, which is responsible for overseeing the federal law governing the Australia Post workers' compensation scheme.
"I was informed that it was the normal practice at AP [Australia Post] for any decision which it made concerning a workers' compensation claim to be vetted by Mr Metcher prior to that decision being finalised," the manager says in the complaint.
"I considered that such an approach was improper and contrary of the obligations of AP pursuant to its Comcare licence."
Mr Metcher's law firm, Carroll & O'Dea Lawyers, didn't respond to emails. Mr Metcher's acting replacement, Shane Murphy, said the union was protecting its members by holding Australia Post accountable for obligations to injured employees.
"The CEPU will continue to stand against unfair practices and poor treatment of sick and injured workers by Australia Post," he said in an email.
Comcare investigation
Australia Post is part of the Comcare workers' compensation scheme, but manages its own claims under a licence from the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission, a federal government agency.
A Comcare spokesman said it had received "a range of allegations about work practices and claims management at Australia Post" and was working with the person to clarify "allegations of claims management practices that potentially breach Australia Post's self-insurance licence conditions".
Comcare informed the manager it was conducting an investigation after being contacted about the complaint by The Australian Financial Review on Monday.
Several managers in the Australia Post workers' compensation office accused Mr Metcher of bullying them this year after they opposed a payment to an employee who said she couldn't work because of an injured elbow at a post office in the NSW Central Coast.
A review panel overturned the decision after Mr Metcher campaigned on the woman's behalf for two months. Three of the managers are now on medical leave. One, who says Mr Metcher called her a f---ing c---, is on suicide watch.
Nine years ago Mr Metcher was charged with assaulting his wife and daughter at their home in Western Sydney, news that was revealed publicly for the first time last week and led to calls for his resignation. He was cleared of the charges on medical grounds.
Mr Metcher headbutted one of his employees during a tea break for pay negotiations with Australia Post in 2013.
Correction: An earlier version of this story said Comcare received the complaint a week ago. It should have said a month ago.
More coverage: Why did Australia Post kill Project Dove, which could have saved millions?
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http://www.afr.com/news/policy/industrial-relations/why-did-australia-post-kill-project-dove-which-could-have-saved-millions-20161129-gszxnh
Why did Australia Post kill Project Dove, which could have saved millions?
Project Dove was going to save Australia Post.
There was so much fraud, waste and inefficiency in the workers compensation scheme at the postal service that fixing it could single handedly eliminate the government-owned company's losses, proponents believed.
A senior team was put in charge. Staff from more than half a dozen departments were assigned. Half a million dollars was set aside just to cover a legal challenge from employees.
Then Jim Metcher happened.
One of the most influential figures in the main Australia Post union not only heard about Project Dove, he got confidential copies of its strategy.
Metcher then exercised his direct line to chief executive Ahmed Fahour to push for the project death sentence, according to allegations made by a former manager in the workers compensation department that are being investigated by Comcare.
"Decisions between the union and CEO resulted in the project shutting down without consultation," the workers' compensation manager told Comcare last week.
Fahour denies he even approved the plan, let alone killed it, which was formally called the Sustainable Employment Project. "No plan called Project Dove has ever been presented to, or considered by, the Australia Post executive committee, the CEO or the board," a spokeswoman said.
Union-run shop?
The allegations raise an uncomfortable question for Australia Post: did it allow a union to exercise control over its workers' compensation department, which set aside $140 million last year to cover claims?
"Jim Metcher openly bragged ... that he ran compensation at AP [Australia Post] and I shouldn't forget it," the complaint to Comcare said. "When a decision was taken by me with which Mr Metcher was unhappy, he would go directly to the CEO."
Metcher, who has temporarily stood down while his violent past is considered by the union, would aggressively push Australia Post managers to approve compensation claims of his members to a point where several became too ill to work, sources say.
(Metcher hasn't spoken to the press since allegations about his violent past surfaced last week. His lawyer didn't respond to an email.)
Australia Post is one of the last big government businesses. It is a classic example of a government enterprise being undercut by nimbler rivals and technological change, while its union-dominated workforce resists job cuts. Unable to reduce costs a lot, the company turns to price rises, which annoys customers but avoids a damaging fight with a noisy union.
Wiping out losses
Australia Post lost $222 million last year, a sum which ultimately is a cost to the federal government. The complaint to Comcare estimates that the annual cost of its workers compensation scheme is $250 million, when it could be as low as $25 million for a comparable privately owned company.
Australia Post says its annual total cost of the scheme ws $21.7 million across 37,000 people last year, down from $22.1 million the previous year.
Many big companies outsource workers compensation. So, increasingly, do government enterprises and departments. The tax office's scheme is managed by QBE and the Department of Human Services is managed by Allianz. But Australia Post runs its own workers' compensation department, which makes it more vulnerable to union pressure.
Project Dove had senior internal sponsors, according to the Comcare complaint: two direct reports to Fahour who were responsible for overseeing the project. Representatives from the legal, human resources, industry management, industrial relations, workers compensation and other departments were part of the team. Their objective was to change the company's culture, practices and rules to reduce the cost of workplace injuries.
There was numerical and anecdotal evidence that something was wrong. By one calculation, 63 per cent of Australia Post employees had suffered an injury that entitled them to compensation and 38 per cent had made a claim.
Union power
Metcher's power came from his leverage over pay negotiations, strong personality and access to politicians and the media. He would feed information embarrassing to the company or his rivals to the Sydney's Daily Telegraph, according to one source. He would threaten to use allies in the Labor Party to launch public inquiries into the company, according to the complaint, which could be used to embarrass executives in public.
"Jim Metcher would constantly threaten to have me sacked, initiate Senate inquiries, discuss the matter with the media, senators, and CEO," the workers' compensation manager told Comcare, which says it is investigating.
One example of Metcher's political influence is Emma Husar, a new federal Labor politician from the Sydney seat of Lindsay. Husar endured domestic violence as a child and as an adult, and has made fighting it her top priority in politics, earning her widespread praise.
She received $25,000 in political donations during the election from Metcher's union, and credited him with helping her win the seat.
Husar refuses to criticise the union leader, who police alleged nine years ago engaged in a 27-year-long "domestic violence lifestyle" that culminated in a drunken night of violence when he punched his wife and daughter about 30 times in the face and head. They fled to a neighbour's.
When The Australian Financial Review pointed out the contradiction, Husar endorsed a comment on social media that the article was "grubby journalism". She declined to comment Tuesday.
Showdown
On February 4, several Australia Post executives met all the state and federal secretaries in the postal and telecommunications division of the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union, including Metcher, the head of the NSW branch.
At the end of the meeting Metcher dropped a bombshell: he had the documentation about Project Dove, which was being trialled in Victoria, and he wanted the Australia Post executives to explain it on the spot.
"Jim [Metcher] had indicated that someone within AP had leaked documents relating to Project Dove and that he would leak them to the media and arrange rallies in protest," the complaint said.
Company managers knew they would face union opposition and had budgeted for $500,000 in legal fees to defend against a union challenge. They didn't want to get into a discussion without being prepared, so they agreed on a follow up meeting a week later.
The following day the manager who made the complaint said he or she was told that the project would cease immediately and he or she would be moved into a new job. They no longer work for Australia Post.
The union says it is proud it has held Australia Post accountable for its legal obligations to injured workers and denies any impropriety.
"CEPU continues to uncover systematic failures within the Australia Post's workers compensation management, including the recent exposure of 'Project Dove', which was designed to reduce or remove workers compensation payments received by seriously sick and injured workers who are unable to ever return to work again," Metcher's acting replacement, Shane Murphy, said Tuesday.
"The CEPU will continue to stand against unfair practices and poor treatment of sick and injured workers by Australia Post."
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