Associations

FRAME & TRUSS MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA

FTMA Australia is an independent, national organisation representing fabricators of and suppliers to the timber prefabricated truss and wall frame industry in all Australian states & territories providing a unified voice, to protect and advance our multi-billion dollar industry.

FTMA Australia thanks our dedicated supporters and encourages you to support those who support your industry

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For a full list of the conditions of membership and a downloadable application form visit: www.ftmanews.com.au Ongoing struggle is taking it’s toll

AS I sit here and type this welcome in May, I have a dreaded fear of déjà vu as a new cluster begins to grow in Victoria along with fears of another lockdown. It may be that I’m just a jaded Victorian who still feels burnt from last year’s massive lockdown but it just shows we have a way to go with COVID-19.

There is no doubt that the ongoing struggle to find timber and to keep your doors open is taking its toll on fabricators and timber suppliers alike. I’ve been receiving calls at all hours of the day and am always happy to talk to fabricators, even if it is to dump your frustrations before heading home at the end of the day.

Some of the rumours and stories I have heard don’t help the situation, as too often the good old rumour mills starts unnecessary fires that take a while to put out and the last thing, we need is more fires!

I know when things are tough, it’s hard to be positive, but given this time last year, suppliers were winding down their stock to avoid being caught out, fabricators were unfortunately dropping their pants to secure jobs in fear the industry was going to crash and many were wondering how they were going to keep their doors open.

We have been extremely fortunate to be one of the few industries which has been able to keep going throughout all the lockdowns. I know you may not think this, however, if you can survive the next twelve months, our sector has a bright future a head with strong markets for the next 5-6 years.

So how do you survive the next year? You plan, you adapt, you monitor and you change if necessary and then you plan again. It will be tougher for some than others, but we encourage you to use the extra resources the government announced in their budget including: • Temporary full expensing • Temporary loss carry-back provisions • Extension of loan scheme for small businesses • Tax cuts • Digital economy strategy

There are many other benefits the Government is putting forward to help small businesses which you can read about at https:// business.nab.com.au/2021federal-budget-what-itmeans-for-small-and-medium-business-45901/

Timber of course is being unfairly blamed for holding up the construction industry as I’ve had many reports of builders or homeowners waiting up to six months for kitchens, delays on waffle pods and there are delays on most building products.

On top of that you have the issue surrounding trades where roofers, brickies and other tradies are hard to find, let alone new employees for your own business. Fabricators have been contacting FTMA seeking help to find employees and we will be sending further information to members shortly on our plans to tackle this issue.

We will get through this by working together and by increasing communication throughout the supply chain and by showing patience and understanding.

Remember, I am always here for members whether that’s an evening or weekend call as I understand the pressure you are all under. We care about your health as much as we care about the survival of your business, so please reach out if you need assistance.

FTMA, helping you keep on top of builder’s debts.

In these extremely busy times, it is important for fabricators to keep on top of their builders’ debts, especially when a builder moves from fabricator to fabricator leaving debt in their trail or when they have a bad habit of charging excessive back charges.

Over the years, we have sent emails to fabricators titled Do You Use This Builder, which has helped many a fabricator either avoid being left with a debt or has resulted in the fabricator being able to talk to the builder about their behaviour.

It is more important than ever before for our sector to work together to keep on top of this issue and FTMA Australia has increased our ability to help in this area.

We have teamed up with Creditor Watch to enable us to check the credit history of the builders sent to us from fabricators before sending out alerts to members.

So how does this work?

If you have a builder who owes money way past the trading terms or you know of a builder that is going under, please send as much of the following information to FTMA Australia: 1. Name of Builder – both personal name and trading name 2. ABN details 3. Registered address of builder 4. Further details on the situation, i.e., how overdue is the invoice etc.

Once information is sent to FTMA, we will check the credit history of the builder on Creditor Watch, including a director due diligence check and file the information, before sending the email to fabricators simply asking Do You Use This Builder? If members do use that builder they will be encouraged to call me for further information.

What this service does not provide is: • Checking details for fabricators before accounts are approved. • Taking phone calls to check on directors or builders credit history without having dealt with them and experienced your own bad debt.

If you have any questions, please give me a call on 0418 226 242 or email me at kersten@ftma.com.au

FTMA Australia is investing into this program to reduce the risk to fabricators during these unprecedented times.

KERSTEN GENTLE Executive Officer FTMA Australia

“We support you!”

Employment laws: be involved

IT has been a busy few month for our IR team here at MGA TMA. With various submissions to Fair Work commission, keeping our members up to date with new laws for employment, the team have been certainly hard at work!

The current climate and changes in this area highlights the need for businesses to be active in this area and have support. Some key areas our team have been involved in are;

PROPOSED FLEXIBLE ARRANGEMENTS FOR PARTTIME EMPLOYMENT

As previously reported, MGATMA is working with other employer and employee associations to vary the terms of employing parttime employees who wish to work additional hours at the ordinary rate of pay. This matter is currently before the Fair Work Commission, and MGATMA is seeking to clarify the clauses in the Award that will give certainty to parttime employees and employers if, employees choose to work extra hours. Currently, there is considerable uncertainty surrounding part-time employment.

ANNUAL WAGE REVIEW 2021 All submissions in respect of any potential wage increase in 2021 have now been submitted to the Fair Work Commission, and they are currently under consideration. MGATMA is hopeful that if the FWC decides to increase wages in 2021 that they are low and hopefully delayed, as they were last year. We will present our final views on any potential increase on behalf of our members to the Fair Work Commission in May, and a decision is likely to be provided in mid-June 2021.

By being part of an association that understands your business needs you will not have only a voice on a national platform but guidance in your day-to-day IR needs.

Here at MGA TMA, we offer all this plus workplace health and safety audits, training, and our world class technical advisory service.

For enquiries on who we are and what we can do for please contact Mark Paladino (Business Development Manager on 03 9824 4111 or mark. paladino@mga.asn.au

Timber veneers pass the test of time

TODAY’S timber veneers are produced with state-of-the-art slicing and peeling machines, but the idea of veneering is nothing new. History tells us that the ancient Egyptians were the first to saw thin boards from logs, making best use of the material to hand.

The history of veneering starts with the idea of conservation. Apart from the fertile Nile River valley, Egypt’s land mass consists of large areas of desert. Without forests, they had to stretch what they had since timber was rare and highly valued.

The ancient Egyptians didn’t have slicing machines but they developed tools for shaving veneers from logs imported from Lebanon, Syria and Phoenicia. Thousands of years ago, incredible veneer work of ebony and ivory was put into the tomb of King Tut, and it survives in museums to this day.

Throughout most of history, veneers were produced by sawing wood into thin strips by hand. Veneer production dwindled during the medi-

PETER LLEWELLEN Technical representative, Timber Veneer Association of Australia

aeval period, but veneered furniture began to reappear in the 16th century and came back into fashion during the 17th century in France.

Veneering techniques became very sophisticated during the Renaissance when small pieces of exotic woods were used to create complex patterns and scenes, a technique known as intarsia or marquetry.

In the early 1800’s machines were produced that could slice veneers, making valuable woods like mahogany and walnut go further by gluing them to less prized species such as maple and birch. Today, we have woodbased sheet products such as particleboard and medium density fibreboard (MDF) as substrates for decorative veneers. The Timber Veneer Association’s popular manual, titled Veneer, shows the many different ways they can be laid up.

Copies of Veneer can be downloaded from the TVAA website, or hard copies are available free of charge on request to info@timberveneer. asn.au.

BRIEFS

PREFAB STANDARDS

In sure sign that prefabricated buildings are set for broader acceptance, the International Standards Organisation (ISO) is to develop global prefabricated standards.

Following a vote by 17 countries in favour including USA, Germany, France, Italy and Netherlands, the proposal from the Chinese National Standards body has been accepted to develop an ISO standard for prefabricated buildings.

The new standards will establish universal criteria of quality, safety, technical and performance indicators, product standards, sizing of elements and the mechanical processes for prefabricated buildings.

PLANE DEVELOPMENTS

LEDINEK reports of further development of their top series of high-performance planing systems for demanding final processing of finger jointed solid wood beams and glulam beams - known for its excellent beam surface finish and therefore very popular in such production plants – which now also enables the final surface processing of up to 1.250 mm wide CLT elements with the required Residential Visible Surface Quality.

Ledinek developed an oscillating belt sanding unit for the final sanding of the two main surfaces after planing. During the same through feed lateral profiles for on-site assembly can be easily finished onto the CLT elements.

HYBRID SANDWICH

Metsä Wood and its partners have designed a hybrid sandwich wall element which will renew offsite construction.

The innovation combines concrete with Kerto LVL (laminated veneer lumber). The first construction project to use the elements is Metsä Fibre’s Rauma sawmill.

The need for more sustainable solutions is acute, because construction causes 30% of all CO2 emissions. Combining concrete and Kerto LVL, the hybrid sandwich wall elements offer an easy way to replace typical concrete sandwich elements, the popular wall element in residential multistorey buildings in Nordic countries.

Looking Back

AN Australian company that has developed technology to turn wood waste into timber that looks and performs like 100-year-old tropical hardwood has entered an agreement with Bosch to globalise the product.

At the heart of technology is a patented process using a water-based, formaldehyde-free “Nano-glue” that biomimics the structure of a natural tree in just one day.

STORA ENSO has introduced a modular construction solution based on CLT solid wood elements to the growing fast construction market, enabling buildings to be ready for use in just a few weeks. There is a need for fast construction in many fields in Europe, for example, student housing, school construction and now the significant challenge of providing housing for refugees.

“This is a question of a high-quality, fast construction concept that is familiar to us in Europe. Using a similar system we have realised for example schools in Austria, and it has worked well,” says Stora Enso Wood Products Manager Jari Suominen.

VICTORIA IS once again the lead State for building and residential hotspots in Australia, according to the Housing Industry Association.

The HIA–JELD-WEN Population and Residential Building Hotspots report provides a snapshot of Australia’s fastest growing metropolitan and regional areas in the 2009/10 financial year.

A “hotspot” is defined as a local area where population growth exceeds the national rate (which was 1.7% in the year to June 2010) and where the value of residential building work approved is in excess of $100 million.

Victoria registered nine of the top twenty national hotspots in 2009/10, while Queensland had five, Western Australia had four, and New South Wales had two.

Is a backdated medical certificate acceptable?

WITHOUT doubt one of the more contentious issues raised by TTIA Members relates to the legitimacy of medical certificates from their staff when taking leave. Some employees assume it is their right to access personal/carers (previously sick leave) to be taken at any time of their employment in a similar fashion to annual leave. Indeed, we often have employer’s report to us that personal leave often gets utilised after an employee has given notice to terminate their employment.

While workplace policies vary on this issue, many employers request that an employee provide a medical certificate which is considered satisfactory evidence explaining a legitimate reason for the absence. However, what is the situation if a medical certificate is dated a number of days after the initial day of an employee’s absence from work?

While a medical certificate is generally considered to be sufficient proof of an employee’s illness or injury which justifies being absent from work, can a business challenge the validity of a back-dated medical certificate or other aspects of the certificate for that matter?

BRIAN BEECROFT CEO,FTMA Australia

legal documents and a medical practitioner who deliberately issues a false, misleading or inaccurate certificate could face disciplinary action under the Health Practitioner Regulation National law. The medical practitioner may also expose themselves to civil or criminal legal action.

Item #.6 of the Australian Medical Association’s ‘Guidelines on Medical Certificates 2011’ (Revised 2016) states the following:

“6. Date of Certificate 6.1 Certificates must be dated on the day on which they were written. Under no circumstances should certificates be backdated. 6.2 There may be circumstances where the doctor will certify that a period of illness occurred prior to the date of examination. The doctor needs to give careful consideration to the circumstances before issuing a certificate certifying a period of illness prior to the date of examination, particularly in relation to a patient with a minor short term illness which is not demonstrable on the day of examination and add supplementary remarks, where appropriate, to explain any discrepancy.”

Therefore, it is clear medical practitioners are bound by a professional code of ethics by their registered professional body and backdating is not good practice and may be considered fraudulent unless it can be appropriately substantiated. Ultimately, if they lose their practising certificate, they lose the right to their form of employment, so the stakes are high.

MEANING OF ‘BACKDATED MEDICAL CERTIFICATE’

The Fair Work Commission has in the past found in favour of an employer’s interpretation of the term ‘backdated medical certificate’, that is, one certifying illness in respect to a period before the date of examination.

However, the Fair Work Commission has also specifically cautioned employer’s that have an unqualified policy of rejecting a backdated certificate presented in support of personal leave claims.

Any terms of the employer’s policy or the terms of the applicable enterprise agreement, which purported to provide the employer with the unilateral right to reject any or all retrospective medical certificates as evidence for the purposes of Personal Leave would be a term which conflicted with the provisions of the Fair Work Act (s.107).

Exceptions

Ultimately, it means that although a backdated medical certificate breaches the AMA’s guidelines, there are circumstances where a medical practitioner can issue a medical certificate based on the employee’s condition prior to the date of examination.

FURTHER ISSUES AND ASSISTANCE

Notwithstanding the issues raised about relating to backdated certificates, an employee also has notice requirements under the National Employment Standard (NES)to give notice as soon as reasonably practicable of an illness/injury or to provide care/support for members of the family or household. Many workplaces have a policy on the expectation of such notice to not unduly interfere with the operation of the workplace.

In addition, medical certificates have been successfully challenged in court and summary dismissals upheld where they have been altered to deceive the business or the employee’s subsequent actions are not consistent with the terms of medical certificate.

If as a business, you’re thinking this area of employment law is a dangerous minefield, you would be 100% right. As in most areas of the law, there are shades of grey and each instance turns on the given circumstances in a case.

If you have a situation arise in relation to the legitimacy of a personal leave issue, please contact the TTIA National Timber Employers Hotline on (02) 9264 0011 or 0419 012 522 for confidential advice.