COLLECTIVE BARGAINING – AUSTRALIA

Bosses reject ACTU’s new bargaining push

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 3-Dec-24

The Australian Resources & Energy Employer Association has called for restrictions on the use of multi-employer bargaining. Its submission to a review of the federal government’s ‘Secure Jobs, Better Pay’ laws has argued that it should only be available in workplaces where an employer has agreed to bargain collectively. AREEA also opposes the ACTU’s push to broaden the scope of multi-employer bargaining, while it has called for the intractable bargaining provisions to be wound back.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES AND ENERGY EMPLOYER ASSOCIATION, ACTU

Virgin first to test Labor’s bargaining laws

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 28-Jun-23

The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers’ Association will oppose Virgin Australia Regional Airlines’ application to the Fair Work Commission for an "intractable bargaining" declaration. The ALAEA’s federal secretary Steve Purvinas says the union does not believe that the Virgin Australia subsidiary meets the requirements of the ‘Secure Jobs, Better Pay’ amendments to the Fair Work Act that took effect in early June. VARA commenced enterprise bargaining negotiations with the ALAEA in February 2021.

CORPORATES
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED, VIRGIN AUSTRALIA REGIONAL AIRLINES PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN LICENSED AIRCRAFT ENGINEERS’ ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

25pc childcare pay rise could be unsustainable

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 7-Jun-23

Unions and early childhood education providers have applied to the Fair Work Commission for authorisation to negotiate pay deals via the federal government’s new multi-employer ‘supported bargaining’ stream. The proposed pay rise of 25 per cent would apply to 65 employers in the sector and about 12,000 early childhood educators. However, Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox says a big concern is that other employers will ultimately be "roped into" the pay deal, despite not being involved in the negotiations.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP

Woodside challenges bargaining orders for offshore gas

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 8-Feb-23

Woodside Energy has appealed the Fair Work Commission’s ruling that it must hold collective bargaining negotiations with unions that represent workers at its offshore gas platforms in Western Australia. The FWC had ruled that the Offshore Alliance had secured the majority support of 200 production workers for a collective agreement. However, Woodside contends that supervisors should not have been included in the bargaining order, and that doing so could compromise their ability to perform their duties. Woodside has had a policy of "direct engagement" with employees at its North West Shelf platforms, where it has used individual contracts rather than enterprise agreements since 1994.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE ENERGY GROUP LIMITED – ASX WDS, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, OFFSHORE ALLIANCE

Bosses angry at big stick threat

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 21-Dec-22

The Australian Resources & Energy Employer Association alleges that unions are seeking to delay negotiating new workplace agreements until the multi-employer bargaining provisions of the Secure Jobs, Better Pay legislation take effect in mid-2023. AREEA CEO Steve Knott says union tactics such as stalling negotiations or encouraging employees to vote down proposed enterprise agreements are expected to become commonplace in many sectors of the economy in the first half of 2023. However, the Electrical Trades Union’s acting national secretary Michael Wright says AREEA should be working with unions on meeting the challenges that workers and employers currently face.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES AND ENERGY EMPLOYER ASSOCIATION, ELECTRICAL TRADES UNION

Firms war-game the new IR rules

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Hannah Wootton
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 29-Nov-22

Perth-based conglomerate Wesfarmers has indicated that it will continue to use enterprise agreements rather than shifting to multi-employer bargaining. CFO Anthony Gianotti says Wesfarmers believes that traditional enterprise agreements are the best way of driving real wage growth. Ramsay Health Care’s CFO Martyn Roberts in turn says that negotiating pay rises across rival companies in the same sector may be "quite challenging". Gianotti adds that the Secure Jobs, Better Pay reforms have not gone far enough in simplifying the industry awards system.

CORPORATES
WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, RAMSAY HEALTH CARE LIMITED – ASX RHC

Burke flags more IR exemptions

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 24-Nov-22

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke says 97.5 per cent of businesses will now be exempt from the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill’s single-interest multi-employer bargaining stream. This follows the federal government’s decision to increase the employee threshold for small businesses from 15 to 20, in line with a Senate committee’s recommendation. However, the Opposition has called for the threshold to be increased to 200, while business groups want it to be set at 100 employees. The government’s compromise means that an additional 500,000 businesses will be exempt from multi-employer bargaining. The government is still in negotiations with independent senator David Pocock.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS

Multi-employer bargaining pays off for workers and businesses

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Chris F Wright
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 39 : 24-Nov-22

The multi-employer bargaining provisions of the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill have been widely criticised by employers’ groups. However, even these groups agree that the current enterprise bargaining system is broken, but they have not put forward an alternative to multi-employer bargaining. The Fair Work Act placed collective bargaining at the enterprise level at the heart of the workplace relations system, but the current laws make it too easy for businesses to opt out of enterprise bargaining while it has become too hard for workers to negotiate new agreements. The rest of the world is moving towards multi-employer bargaining, as it benefits businesses as well as workers. Australia should embrace this once-in-a-generation opportunity to do so as well.

CORPORATES

Firms face $75k cost for bargaining

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 23-Nov-22

The Department of Employment & Workplace Relations estimates that it will cost small businesses about $14,638 to engage in multi-employer bargaining. Medium businesses and large companies in turn will face costs of $75,148 and $94,311 respectively, according to the department’s regulatory impact statement. The federal government has based these estimates on an average consultant cost of $175 an hour. However, Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry CEO Andrew McKellar contends that businesses could expect to pay market rates of about $400 an hour. Meanwhile, Hancock Prospecting, has warned that multi-employer bargaining could threaten thousands of mining jobs and billions of dollars in royalty revenue.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, HANCOCK PROSPECTING PTY LTD

More exemptions to salvage IR bill

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 23-Nov-22

The Senate inquiry into the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill has recommended increasing the threshold for small businesses to be exempted from multi-employer bargaining to 20 employees, compared with 15 under the existing provisions of the bill. Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has indicated that the government is willing to negotiate a higher threshold in order to secure the bill’s passage before parliament rises for the year. However, Burke notes that lifting the threshold too much would undo the central aim of the bill, which is to increase the wages of low-paid workers. Independent senator David Pocock has continued to push for a vote on the multi-employer bargaining provisions of the bill to be delayed until next year.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS