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Industrial Relations Report
A MESSAGE FROM THE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS MANAGER, HAMISH HARRINGTON
ACTU calling for revamp of Australia’s Industrial Relations System
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) is currently calling for a return to industry and supply-chain based bargaining, a recommendation which has caused employers across the country a great deal of concern. Secretary of the ACTU, Sally McManus first introduced this as a policy platform soon after her election to the position in 2017. Expressing dissatisfaction of the Fair Work Act, passed under a Labor government in 2009, McManus has accused the current enterprise level bargaining system of “smothering” wage growth in Australia. McManus’ statements correspond with the ACTU’s current social media campaign titled ‘#changetherules’, a title somewhat more moderate than her statements back in March 2017 urging employees to break so-called unjust laws.
In order to place the ACTU’s criticism of our current enterprisebased bargaining system into perspective, it is worth detailing the process which must be followed for an enterprise agreement to be passed. Employers and employees may initiate bargaining where they find an aspect of an Award fails to allow a business to function as efficiently and profitably as it could. A minimum period of bargaining must pass before the agreement can be voted on. The agreement cannot pass without employees voting in favour of it. In order for an enterprise agreement to be legally binding, it must also pass through a rigorous assessment by the Fair Work Commission which certifies that employees are ‘better off overall’ under the agreement than they would otherwise have been under the relevant Award.
It is difficult to see how the enterprise-based bargaining system can smother wage growth if an enterprise agreement cannot pass without employees being better off. One of the virtues of this system is it encourages flexibility which can itself assist employers to engage more workers.
With declining Union membership, McManus’ statements may be nothing but sound and fury. At the end of the day, the Unions represent only a fraction of working people. However, the system we currently have in place took many years to refine and should never be taken for granted. Employers and workers should fight to protect the right to determine how best to organise their working relationship. It is a right that benefits both parties as it recognises that in a modern Australia, each workplace is different.
Any member wishing to voice their opinion of the ACTU’s push for industry-based bargaining or who want advice about the process for preparing an enterprise agreement can contact the MBA’s Industrial Relations Manager.
