Changes to wage levels and legislation governing Australian workplace agreements will come into effect this month, amid the ongoing debate about the federal government’s Work Choices legislation.
Changes to wage levels and legislation governing Australian workplace agreements will come into effect this month, amid the ongoing debate about the federal government’s Work Choices legislation.
New minimum pay increases have occurred at both a state and federal levels, with the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission’s state wage decision coming into effect this month.
The commission has increased the minimum wage by 4.8 per cent, to $528.40 per week.
The federal government has approved a 2 per cent rise to the national minimum wage, taking the minimum weekly salary to $522.12.
In addition, national pay and classification scales have been increased for employees earning up to $700 per week (by $10.26) and employees earning over $700 (by $5.30 per week).
These federal wage changes will come into effect on October 1.
Other new provisions regarding the controversial workplace relations fact sheet were introduced last week.
The fact sheet, which is issued by the Workplace Authority, outlines the protected award conditions and fairness test for employees.
Under the new amendments, all employers in the federal system must provide a copy of the fact sheet to all new employees within seven days of their commencing employment, effective last Friday.
Existing employees must receive a copy of the fact sheet by October 20, and failure to do so may result in employers receiving a $110 penalty for each breach.
Meanwhile, a new report from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA claims the ALP’s proposed industrial relations laws policy will have a detrimental effect on WA businesses.
The report, released this week, says the ALP’s policy will increase regulation and costs, reduce flexibility in employing staff and compromise business efficiency.
It also says the right to strike will be extended and union control over wage setting and employment conditions in non-union businesses could increase.
CCI manager workplace relations policy, Marcia Kuhne, said WA workers stood to lose benefits and employment opportunities if individual contracts were removed.
“Returning to a highly regulated and union dominated industrial relations system would be regressive,” she said.
“The argument in support of the current laws is compelling because they’ve delivered substantial improvements to productivity, wages and business competitiveness while reducing industrial disputation and red tape.”
According to the CCI almost a quarter of employees in WA are on individual contracts.
Data from the Workplace Authority shows 101,627 AWAs for WA employees were lodged between March last year and the end of June 2007 – the highest of any state.
This represents 22 per cent of the state’s workforce.
During the same period, 8,307 employee collective and 32,194 union collective agreements were lodged in WA.
Of those businesses lodging AWAs nationally, 60 per cent employed more than 100 employees.
Retail trade, accommodation and food services, and mining were among the leading sectors using AWAs.
