Jobs and Skills Summit Outcomes

JOBS & SKILLS SUMMIT DELIVERS A NEW DEAL FOR WORKERS

After years of bare-knuckled industrial combat, the new Albanese Federal Government has set the tone for a new era of cooperation in workplace relations. The recent Jobs and Skills Summit in Canberra saw representatives of the business community, state governments, civil society, disability groups and the trade union movement come together to discuss the country’s employment and training challenges. There‘s only so much that can be achieved in a day and half, so the summit was preceded by around 100 industry and community roundtables across Australia. The RTBU participated in a number of these roundtables, and was represented at the Summit by National Secretary Mark Diamond. Mark said the Summit came up with 36 initiatives for the Federal Government to progress immediately, and a similar number of longer-term initiatives to start working on. “Importantly for RTBU members, these initiatives included several things that we have been campaigning for,” Mark said. “One of the biggest wins for us was the commitment to fix the flaw in the Fair Work Act which allows employers to tear up enterprise agreements at the drop of a hat. “Our members were the first to su er from this flaw when Aurizon ripped up a dozen agreements almost 8 years ago. Now the Premier of NSW is trying it on as well, threatening to tear up EAs for workers at Sydney Trains and NSW Trains. “There was a lot of talk leading up to the summit about making changes to enterprise bargaining to kick start wages growth, and addressing EA terminations was one of the action items to come out of the summit agreement.” Mark said the Federal Minister for Workplace Relations Tony Burke has already written to the Fair Work Commission about impending legislative changes which will limit the ability of employers to terminate enterprise agreements unfairly as a bargaining tactic. Legislation is now being drafted, and will hopefully go before Parliament this year. Similarly, the Federal Government has started work on drafting new laws to ensure labour hire workers get paid at the same rate as other workers.

Key outcomes from the Summit included:

1. An additional $1 billion in joint Federal-State funding for fee-free TAFE in 2023 and accelerated delivery of 465,000 fee-free TAFE places; 2. A one-o income credit so that Age Pensioners who want to work can earn an additional $4,000 over this financial year without losing any of their pension; 3. More flexibility in the use of the $575 million National

Housing Infrastructure Facility to invest in social and a ordable housing; 4. Modernising Australia’s workplace relations laws, including to make bargaining accessible for all workers and businesses; 5. Amending the Fair Work

Act to strengthen access to flexible working arrangements, make unpaid parental leave more flexible and strengthen protection for workers against discrimination and harassment; 6. Improving access to jobs and training pathways for women, First Nations people, regional Australians and culturally and linguistically diverse people, and other measures to reduce barriers to employment; 7. An increase in the permanent Migration Program ceiling to 195,000 in 202223 to help ease widespread, critical workforce shortages; and 8. Extending visas and relaxing work restrictions on international students to strengthen the pipeline of skilled labour, and providing additional funding to resolve the visa backlog.

Left, Nick Bonahady / The Sydney Morning Herald

MARK v DOM IN SUMMIT SHOWDOWN

While the summit itself was a civilised and serious a air, things got a bit more heated in the Parliament House foyer when National Secretary Mark Diamond came face-to-face with NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet. Perrottet’s minions had just sent the RTBU and other NSW rail unions a letter demanding that all industrial actions cease, or the NSW Government would apply to the Fair Work Commission to terminate the Sydney Trains and NSW Trains enterprise agreements. Mark saw the Premier across the foyer during a break at the summit , so he took the opportunity to invite the Premier to meet with workers to explain his actions. The invitation was not well received. The interaction was witnessed by the nation’s media, and splashed across major newspapers. The Premier was left in no doubt that NSW rail workers mean business, and they have the full support of their national all-grades union.