D) Industry Wide Awards, Collective Agreements and Individual Contracts Flashcards
- Industrial Relations Prior to 1996
Prior to the 1990s, Australia worked with a centralised of Industrial Relations.
• This means that the determination of wages and conditions of work was conducted by the government in conjunction with unions and employer bodies and resulted in the setting of awards which covered entire industry sectors.
- Workplace Relations Act 1996-2006
The movement towards a more decentralised industrial relations system received a substantial push from the Howard government’s Workplace Relations Act 1996. This legislation moved the industrial relations system further in the direction of individual bargaining and away from central regulation. The workplace relations Act brought about a system with significant changes. It was firmly decentralised.
- Enterprise bargaining as a main feature—the process of negotiation regarding wages and conditions of work at separate workplaces, resulting in enterprise agreements.
- There were two different types of enterprise agreements:
- Collective Agreements which covered a number of employees at the one workplace;
- and Australian Workplace Agreements (AWA’s) which were individual contracts between workers and their employers.
- Workplace Relations Act 1996-2006
The main features of the Workplace Relations Act were:???
■ The simplification (stripping) of the traditional awards system
■ A system of individual workplace contracts called Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs), generally outside the scrutiny of the Industrial Relations Commission
■ A reduction in the role of the IRC
■ Restrictions on union activity and the encouragement of non-union bargaining agents.
- Workplace Relations Act 1996-2006
Effect of legislation on Management?
• The workplace changes resulting from the legislation moved management further into negotiating pay and working conditions at the level of the individual organisation and with the individual employee.
-Because awards covered only minimum pay and conditions, employees and their unions were encouraged to bargain for better pay and conditions at the workplace level.
• The increased focus on the workplace level had added the potential for greater flexibility in industrial arrangements.
- More areas of working life were up for negotiation in the new system.
- This was a clear break from awards that previously set out in detail the terms of employment for various occupations or jobs in an industry.
• Centralised awards were largely replaced by agreements—collective or individual—covering employees in individual enterprises.
- Workplace Relations Act 1996-2006
Awards
Awards still existed, though they could only set out wages and conditions for industry sectors in a limited range of matters, and were not considered more of a safety net.
- WorkChoices Legislation-2006
In 2005 the Howard government made amendments to the Workplace Relations Act in legislation known as Work-Choices. The new laws, enacted in 2006, took a dramatic step in the direction of further decentralisation of employee relations towards a less regulated labour market.
- The laws changed the industrial relations landscape and adjusted—or tilted—the legal balance between bosses and workers that had existed in Australia for a hundred years.
- WorkChoices Legislation-2006
The key elements of the Work-Choices legislation were:
■ The further demise of awards ■ Collective bargaining discouraged ■ Further downgrading of the role of the IRC ■ Cuts to unfair dismissal provisions ■ Restrictions on trade union activity
- WorkChoices Legislation-2006
Minimum Wages??
The new Australian Fair Pay Commission was established to set minimum wage rates based on the current award structures and classifications.
- WorkChoices Legislation-2006
Agreements??
All agreements (both AWAs and collective agreements) had to go to the Office of the Employment Advocate to be register, but the no-disadvantage test no longer existed. This meant that it was possible for workers to be worse off than they were under their previous agreement.
Agreements could not undercut a set of five basic conditions:
- Minimum Award wage as determined by the Fair Pay Commission
- Four weeks’ paid annual leave
- 52 weeks unpaid parental leave
- 10 days personal/carers’ leave
- Maximum of 38 ordinary hours of work per week
- WorkChoices Legislation-2006
Unions?
The right of Union officials to enter workplaces was curbed.
- WorkChoices Legislation-2006
- Unfair Dismissal??
- Employees at businesses with fewer than 100 employees were no longer able to persue unfair dismissal claims if they were sacked.
- Employees at businesses with more than 100 employees could not peruse unfair dismissal claims if they were sacked within 6 months of being employed
- WorkChoices Legislation-2006
- Responses to the Work-Choices??
These changes made it easier to be more flexible in terms of firing and hiring employees. However, lower paid workers were at risk of losing their real pay levels and hard-won conditions under Work-Choices.
- Fair Work Act 2009 and Fair Work Australia INTRO?
A new Federal Government was elected in November 2007 with a policy to substantially reform the previous government’s Work-Choices legislation. This involved the creation of Fair Work Australia, which is an independent institution that replaces the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and some other bodies.
- The industrial relations system supported by the new legislation continues the long-term trend to decentralisation. It is based on enterprise-level bargaining, with centralised wage fixing for minimum pay rates only.
- The system aims to promote collective bargaining between employer and employees at the enterprise level. The law allows negotiation on a collective deal to be carried out by union or non-union representatives, where a majority in the workplace wants this.
- Fair Work Act 2009 and Fair Work Australia
- Enterprise Agreements and Conditions of Work??
The Rudd Government took action to abolish AWAs as one of its first pieces of legislation. It is important to note that all enterprise agreements must be approved by Fair Work Australia and must pass the ‘Better off overall’ test.
Other types of agreements that exist are:
- Employee Collective Agreements-An employee collective agreement is made between the employer and a group of employees who will be covered by the agreement.
- Union Collective Agreement-A Union collective agreement is made between the employer and a union or unions that represent the employees. The unions will be negotiated on behalf of the employees.
- Employee Greenfield Agreement-agreement in relation to a new project, business or undertaking which an employer is proposing to establish.
- Union Greenfields Agreement—An agreement between a union and an employer in relation to a new project, business or undertaking which the employer is proposing to establish.
- Multiple Business Agreement-Is a collective agreement that enables multiple employers to make a single agreement which applies to all of their businesses.
- Fair Work Act 2009 and Fair Work Australia
- Fair Work Australia?
Fair Work Australia
• replaces the IRC and the Australian Fair Pay Commission.
- The new federal body determines the minimum wage each year. In addition, it has a number of other duties, including approving enterprise-level agreements, mediating industrial disputes and unfair dismissal claims, and inspecting complaints of workplace abuse.
- The government plans to have Fair Work Australia and most of the other changes to Work-Choices in place by early 2010. The Fair Work legislation passed through parliament in March 2009.
- Changes to industrial relations systems take some time to filter down to workplaces; from 2010 on, the new legislation will begin to impact on employee relations in workplaces.
- FAW can:
- Vary awards | Approve agreements | Determine unfair dismissal claims | Make minimum wage orders | And assist employees and employers to resolve disputes at the workplace
