CCI WA IR laws summary

The WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry has created a useful summary of the proposed IR laws.

WorkChoices will bring about the most wide-spread reform of Australia's industrial relations system in more than 100 years.

The following is a summary of the new legislation as prepared by CCI's Employee Relations Division,

The Fair Pay Commission

The Government will establish the Australian Fair Pay Commission (the 'AFPC') to set and adjust the minimum wage as well as minimum wages for award classifications, juniors, trainees/apprentices and employees with disabilities, piece workers and casual loadings. Award wages cannot fall below t..

The Fair Pay and Conditions Standard

The Government will enshrine the following minimum conditions in legislation: Hours = Maximum ordinary hours of 38 Annual Leave = 4 weeks paid Personal/Carer's Leave/Sick Leave = 10 days paid after 12 months (pro rata if less service) plus 2 days unpaid for carer'...

Agreements

A lodgement-only system for all agreements will be introduced. A statutory declaration stating the agreement was negotiated in compliance with the law will need to be lodged with the agreement. This will replace the current certification or approval processes for all agreements. All agreements...

Award Conditions in Bargaining

All award conditions are open to bargaining; however, the following award conditions can only be modified or removed by specific provisions in the new Agreement: public holidays rest breaks (including meal breaks) incentive-based payments and bonuses annual leave loadings allowances pena...

Mandatory Content

Agreements will need to include a nominal expiry date (a maximum of five years) and a dispute settling procedure (DSP). A model DSP will be included in the new legislation....

Prohibited Content

The following matters cannot be included in agreements: prohibiting AWAs restricting the use of independent contractors or on-hire arrangements allowing for industrial action during the term of an Agreement that provide for trade union training leave, bargaining fees to trade unions or p...

Existing Agreements

A State or Federal Agreement in place at the commencement of WorkChoices laws will continue to operate beyond its nominal expiry date until terminated or replaced. These old agreements may be terminated after their nominal expiry date using the termination provisions which currently apply. ...

Effect of Agreements

AWAs will exclude both collective agreements (union and employee) and awards Collective Agreements will exclude awards, but will not be able to exclude AWAs The Fair Pay and Conditions Standard will apply throughout the life of an Agreement made under WorkChoices....

Industrial Action

The right to lawful industrial action when negotiating a new Agreement will continue to be protected. The Australian Industrial Relations Commission (the AIRC) will retain its power to issue orders to prevent or stop unprotected industrial action. However, the new legislation will requir...

Awards

Under WorkChoices federal awards will continue and employees not covered by agreements will continue to work under their awards. However, State awards will be deemed to be transitional federal agreements for all constitutional corporations. Under WorkChoices, long service leave, superann..

Non-Allowable Matters

The legislation will clarify a number of non-allowable award matters. Skilled-based career paths - 'skill-based career paths' will be removed from the list of allowable award matters. However, since skill-based career paths are usually linked to classification structures, they wi..

Award rationalisation and simplification

The next stage of award simplification will require the amendment of awards in the new workplace relations system to reflect the requirements of the legislation. The Government will establish an Award Review Taskforce to consider how award rationalisation (fewer federal awards) can best be coordinat...

Transmission

Transmission of business occurs when an existing business is sold to another business, either in part or in its entirety. In future, where a business or part of a business transmits to a new employer, if no employee accepts employment with the new employer, the awards or agreements will ...

The Australian Industrial Relations Commission

The Government wants employers and employees to resolve disputes between themselves. Where this fails they can choose whether to use the AIRC or some alternative. The Government will: include a model DSP in the legislation to use when resolving their workplace disputes. The model...

Unions

Union officials currently have enforcement capacities under the WR Act where their union is bound to an agreement or award, where they represent members who have been subject to breaches, or as parties affected in their own right. Unions will maintain the capacity to commence enforcement proce...

Union Right of Entry

Proposed changes will: tighten the requirements for the granting of an entry permit, including introducing a 'fit and proper person' test exclude State right of entry laws. make it clear there is no right of entry for discussion purposes where all employees are on AWAs only allow entry...

State Unions

State registered unions will be granted transitional status as a registered federal organisation. They will then be required to bring themselves into compliance with the WR Act and to seek full registration within three years. A State registered organisation will not be able to seek full...

Unfair Dismissal

The WorkChoices laws will exempt businesses with up to, an including, 100 employees from unfair dismissal laws. The 100 employee threshold is a head count and includes part-time employees and regular casuals with at least 12 months employment. For businesses with over 100 employees, empl...

Unlawful termination

For all businesses, it will continue to be unlawful to terminate an employee's employment on the following grounds: temporary absence from work because of illness or injury trade union membership or participation in trade union activities non-membership of a trade union seeking office ...

Transitional arrangements - Constitutional Corporations Currently in the WA System

All constitutional corporations currently covered by the WA industrial relations system will move into the WorkChoices system, the new federal system. The state awards and agreements that applied to these employers will, under the WorkChoices system, become 'transitional federal agreements'. S...

Non-Constitutional Corporations currently in the Federal System

There will be a separate transitional system where the employer is not a constitutional corporation but is currently in the federal system. The transitional system will operate for five years. This arrangement will provide employers that are unincorporated businesses currently in the fed...

Non-Constitutional Corporations currently in the WA system only

Employers that are non-constitutional corporations that do not have any federal awards or agreements will remain in the WA industrial relations system. These businesses, if they become constitutional corporations in the future, will then be covered by the federal 'WorkChoices' system....

There is access to the complete document as a PDF for those who'd like to print the entire version. You'll need to login to access the summary and PDF. If you don't know your login details, please contact CCI Member Services on 9365 7555.