Australian workers will find it easier to get a pay rise and harder to get sacked under Anthony Albanese's plan to boost wages

Australian workers will find it easier to get a pay rise and negotiate flexible shifts, and bosses will find it harder to sack staff, under Anthony Albanese’s plan to reshape the workplace.

Labor on Thursday introduced legislation featuring major industrial relations changes that touch upon every aspect of life at work, from conditions to rostering and how pay is negotiated.

The changes include introducing ‘multi-employer bargaining’ – where condition agreements could cover several workplaces – for the first time in four decades.

The bill also stops employers from banning staff from discussing their wages, and beefs up the Fair Work Commission’s powers to close the gender pay gap.

The ALP also seeks to change the definition of a casual worker to make sure employees with a fixed roster are given permanent jobs.

Australian workers will find it easier to get a pay rise and harder to get sacked under Anthony Albanese's plan to boost wages

Australian workers will find it easier to get a pay rise and harder to get sacked under Anthony Albanese’s plan to boost wages

Gig workers such as Uber and Deliveroo drivers will be covered by new rules to ensure they earn at least the minimum wage.

Australian workers, especially the lowest paid, have suffered a decade of real wage decline and with inflation rising to 7.3 per cent that will only get worse so the government is desperate to push up salaries as high as it can.

However, detail on how exactly the new bargaining system will work was scarce in Tuesday’s federal Budget and will only be revealed in the text of the bill.

Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke introduced the changes to the House of Representatives this morning.

‘Australians have asked for change. They’ve asked for less conflict and fairer pay. They’ve asked for a better future for themselves and for their families,’ he said. 

‘It will take time for this bill to result in improvements in workplaces and pay increases in the pockets of Australians. So we cannot waste a moment in passing it.’

Right to demand flexible hours

Under the proposal, employers will be legally required to try and reach an agreement with staff who request flexible work hours, including making alternative arrangements if the request can’t be catered for.

A worker would then be able to take the case to the workforce watchdog if their boss refuses.

Eligible workers include parents with school age children and carers, as well as people with a disability, above the age of 55 or experiencing domestic violence.

Employers will be legally required to try and reach an agreement with employees who request flexible work hours, in a bill coming two days after Treasurer Jim Chalmers (pictured with his family) delivered his first budget

Employers will be legally required to try and reach an agreement with employees who request flexible work hours, in a bill coming two days after Treasurer Jim Chalmers (pictured with his family) delivered his first budget

Employment Minister Tony Burke said inflexible working arrangements were damaging families and the economy.

He said the reforms would particularly help women and low-paid workers.

‘Our workplace laws are outdated and do not actively support a culture of flexible work,’ he said on Thursday morning.

‘The care of children and other loved ones is truly an essential job. Our workplace laws must better recognise and support this work.’

ACTU president Sally McManus said the legislation would stop bosses denying requests for flexible shifts ‘just because they can’.

‘It’s where parents need to have temporary changes to their roster so, if they’ve got an older person or obviously a child they’re caring for, it’s not forever, it’s a period of time,’ she said.

‘The employer can change the roster but they just don’t want to do it, they’ll have an ability to be able to stop unreasonable refusals.’

Multi-employer bargaining

By far the most controversial, and least discussed in the Budget, part of the expected legislation is allowing agreements that cover multiple companies.

Such agreements, which could cover workers in an entire industry, have not been a feature of Australian workplaces since 1983.

Treasury said it could be used to resolve industrial disputes and hinted at a bigger role for trade unions, with wages growth expected to lag behind inflation until 2024.

‘The government will also provide additional support to help employers and employees reach agreements and resolve disputes, with improved access to arbitration for intractable disputes,’ the Budget paper read.

‘This will be complemented by enhanced access to multi-employer bargaining.

‘Unions and employer representatives will also be supported to work together and with the government to improve safety, fairness and productivity in the workplace.’

Employees would be able to negotiate agreements with multiple employers, or even across entire industries, under the government's upcoming legislation

Employees would be able to negotiate agreements with multiple employers, or even across entire industries, under the government’s upcoming legislation

This is the only mention of multi-employer bargaining in the budget with the details only to be reveal when the bill is tabled to parliament.

Employment Minister Tony Burke revealed a little more when he explained the government’s motives during Question Time on Wednesday.

First was a convoluted explanation of how previous systems hadn’t worked because lower paid industries were unable to compare themselves to higher paid ones.  

He then quoted Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor saying the Coalition was opposed to multi-employer bargaining because ‘it pushes up wages… This is a bad place to go… This is exactly what they shouldn’t be doing.’

In a concession to businesses, unions and other groups that repeatedly breach federal workplace laws will be banned from any involvement in negotiation multi-employer bargaining.

This provision is squarely aimed at Australia’s most militant union, the CFMEU, which has been fined numerous times for its tactics. 

The business lobby is rallying against the concept with increasingly strong language over the past week, claiming it would lead to unions organising industry-wide strikes.

‘There is no significant support for ACTU proposals regarding multi-employer bargaining from industry, only deep alarm,’ Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox said.

‘Any adoption of radical union proposals to afford them a right to co-ordinate industrial action across a sector or industry risks imposing significant adverse consequences for the community and economy.’

Treasury said it could be used to resolve industrial disputes and hinted at a bigger role for trade unions, with wages growth expected to lag behind inflation until 2024

Treasury said it could be used to resolve industrial disputes and hinted at a bigger role for trade unions, with wages growth expected to lag behind inflation until 2024

Tony Burke calls for urgency passing the bill

Now there will be requests for us to move more slowly, to wait extra months to pretend that there is no urgency as this bill proceeds through the house and in the other place.

I asked members and senators to remember how long people have already waited – they have waited a decade, while wages were kept deliberately low.

Waited generations while the gender pay gap refused to close, waited while children became adults, while caring responsibilities collided with rosters, waited in insecure work for the secure job, which still hasn’t arrived.

These Australians have waited long enough. And while waiting, they have turned up every day and done their job.

It’s now time we did ours and legislated for secure jobs and better pay.

Australia’s top three business organistions, Ai Group, Business Council of Australia, and the Australian Chamber of Commerce came out swinging with a stern joint statement on Friday.

They warned the plan would cause ‘serious damage’ to the economy, would lead to higher unemployment, and were a ‘recipe for disaster’ given the world’s troubled economic conditions.

Any broader system of multi-employer bargaining must be voluntary and cannot lead to another layer of ill-suited, industry-wide terms and conditions,’ they said.

‘The global economy is treading a precarious and perilous path. It’s critical we avoid any changes that could result in increased industrial action, supply chain bottlenecks, and unsustainable wage pressures.’

Ms McManus said the business lobby was exaggerating the risks because it wanted to pay workers less than they deserved.

‘There’s a lot of ridiculous hysterical claims made, because a lot of people have vested interests in keeping wages low,’ she told the ABC on Thursday morning.

‘We don’t want to see more strikes. We want to see pay rises. When people are more equal as bargaining partners, you get better outcomes. 

‘We like employers to realise that. And to sit down and come to outcomes that everyone will be happy with. Strikes only happen as a last resort where employers are completely unreasonable.’

Pay secrecy rules 

A key Labor election promise was to ban clauses in contracts that ban workers from disclosing their pay to each other under than threat of disciple or even sacking.

Labor believes that banning the clauses would give workers greater bargaining power because they could more easily find out what their colleagues earn. 

Of course, workers could still decline to reveal their salary to colleagues if they want to keep it secret, but would at least have the option.

Banning secrecy clauses would mean an employee being paid less than a colleague for doing the same job could legally approach their boss and ask why. 

New laws would ban clauses in contracts that ban workers from disclosing their pay to each other under than threat of disciple or even sacking

New laws would ban clauses in contracts that ban workers from disclosing their pay to each other under than threat of disciple or even sacking

The government argued it would help reduce the gender pay gap because female workers would be allowed to ask their male counterparts what they earn.  

According to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, Australian men earn 13.4 per cent more than women.

The move mirrors the UK, which outlawed secrecy clauses in 2010 under its Equality Act.  

‘These clauses only exist because employers don’t want their workers to know how much they’re getting paid compared to their colleagues,’ Mr Burke told Daily Mail Australia.

‘Usually, that’s because they don’t want women to realise they’re getting paid less than men.’

Casual and contract workers  

Australia has about 2.6 million casual workers, most commonly in the hospitality, retail, health, education and construction industries.

These workers receive no annual or personal leave, no notice of termination or redundancy pay – but get an extra 25 per cent pay to make up for it.

The government plans to change this so employment status is determined by workers’ shift patterns alone, so workers with regular shifts would be classed as permanent.

For example, a coal miner who has a 12 month fixed roster would be classed as permanent even if the employer wants to define them as a casual.

Australia has about 2.6 million casual workers, most commonly in the hospitality, retail, health, education and construction industries

Australia has about 2.6 million casual workers, most commonly in the hospitality, retail, health, education and construction industries

Labor believes this would push up wages by increasing bargaining power because permanent workers have stronger rights and cannot be left off a roster for requesting a pay-rise like casuals can. 

‘Some people want casual work because it’s flexible and that’s fine. Those jobs will always have a place,’ Mr Burke said during the campaign.

‘But there are a lot of Australians stuck in casual work who crave a permanent job so they have certainty around their pay and hours. Those jobs should be available.’ 

The government also wants to stop workers from being endlessly strung along on short-term contracts without the security of long-term employment.

The Budget promised the legislating would limit the use of fixed-term contracts beyond two years or two consecutive contracts.

‘Exceptions will provide for fixed term contracts to be used when genuinely necessary and appropriate,’ the Budget paper stated.

Gig worker protections 

Mr Albanese also wants to improve the rights of so-called gig workers such as Uber and Deliveroo drivers.

Labor’s industrial relations bill will extend the powers of the Fair Work Commission to include ’employee-like’ forms of work.

This would allow the tribunal to cover app-based gig jobs even when workers are classed as being technically self-employed by their companies.

The FWC would be able to set minimum pay and conditions for gig workers so they can must at least be paid minimum wage. 

Labor plans to improve the rights of so-called gig workers such as Uber and Deliveroo drivers

Labor plans to improve the rights of so-called gig workers such as Uber and Deliveroo drivers

Labor believes there is a big difference between an empowered independent contractor who runs their own business and a low paid worker on a bicycle, and they shouldn’t be treated the same.

Mr Burke said during the election campaign that Labor’s laws would stop the ‘dangerous exploitation’ of low-paid gig workers.

‘Right now they’re falling through the cracks because they don’t fit the traditional definition of ”employee” – meaning they have almost no rights and protections, including no minimum pay rates,’ he said.

Same pay for same work 

The government aims to make sure workers who do the same job are paid the same if they are employed directly or through labour hire firms. 

Companies use labour hire firms when they need to get extra workers in. This is most common in the mining sector but also happens in customer service, healthcare, aged care, disability care and manufacturing.

But Labor believes companies are deliberately using the firms to keep wage bills down because the hired workers are casuals who earn less.

For example, a big mining company that negotiated an agreement with its workers and the union could circumvent the agreement by bringing casuals through a labour hire company.

The government aims to make sure workers who do the same job are paid the same if they are employed directly or through labour hire firms

The government aims to make sure workers who do the same job are paid the same if they are employed directly or through labour hire firms

The government’s plan is to mandate labour hire firms match the wages of the permanent employees working at the company alongside them.

The idea is to increase the number of people in permanent work and push up permanent wages. 

This provision wasn’t explicitly mentioned in the Budget, but was part of Labor platform during the election campaign. 

‘There is a direct line between insecure work and low rates of pay,’ Mr Burke said at the time.

‘We need to stop replacing permanent jobs with low-paid insecure and casual jobs where workers have no power to argue for a pay rise.’

Closing the gender pay gap

Several regulator features of the industrial relations bill are specifically aimed at working women, along with childcare and paid parental leave elsewhere in the Budget.

Mostly they involve giving the FWC more power to monitor and enforce equal pay between the genders when setting rules and ruling on agreements.

Gender equity would be an explicit objective of the Fair Work Act, allowing the FWC to take it into consideration, and to introduce a statutory equal remuneration principle to guide the way the FWC considers equal pay cases.

This includes provisions that gender-based assumptions must not be taken into account in the assessment of work value.

Workers in aged care, nursing, and other such industries are frequently paid less despite the pandemic showing how important they are

Workers in aged care, nursing, and other such industries are frequently paid less despite the pandemic showing how important they are

Labor will also force companies with more than 250 employees to report their gender pay gap publicly so they are shamed into reducing it. 

The Budget also laid out how Labor’s industrial relations policy would tackle systemic problems where entire female-dominated industries are underpaid.

Workers in aged care, nursing, and other such industries are frequently paid less despite the pandemic showing how important they are.

The Budget allocates $20.2 million to set up three new expert panels to discuss how best to address this – one focused on pay equity generally, another specifically on the care sector.

There will also be a ‘specialised research unit to inform and improve the FWC’s capacity to assess pay equity claims and help address the workforce challenges in the care and community sector’.

Money will also be spent on effort to stamp out sexual harassment in the workplace and improve safety for women.

The Budget includes  $15.1 million over four years to help the FWC and Fair Work Ombudsman to tackle sexual harassment in the workplace.

Another $32 million over four years, and $8 million per year ongoing, will fund are working women’s centres in every state and territory. 

The FWC will get more power to monitor and enforce equal pay between the genders when setting rules and ruling on agreements

The FWC will get more power to monitor and enforce equal pay between the genders when setting rules and ruling on agreements

The Budget paper said these centres provided information, advocacy, advice and assistance to women on workplace issues – including workplace sexual harassment.

‘Stamping out workplace sexual harassment is central to achieving safe, productive and gender equitable workplaces,’ Mr Burke said as he introduced the bill.

‘Under the previous government’s laws, there was no express prohibition on sexual harassment under the Fair Work Act and stopped sexual harassment orders were only available to some workers. We will fix these issues.

‘Our changes mean whether you’re a nurse in Tamworth, a plumber in Perth or an office worker in Canberra, you can ask the Fair Work Commission to deal quickly and effectively with your complaint of sexual harassment in the Fair Work Commission.

‘Whether the harassment occurred in the past or is ongoing or both. The new provisions will also allow the Fair Work Ombudsman to investigate and assist with compliance. 

‘These changes send a clear message that workplace sexual harassment will not be tolerated.’

Some $3.4 million over four years will be spent to support small businesses to understand and implement the 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave.

Streamlining the better off overall test

This part of the legislation is mostly about removing red tape that slows down the negotiation and drafting of agreements, and the FWC’s consideration of them.

The better off overall test requires any enterprise bargaining agreement give employees no worse pay and conditions than the relevant industry award.

Previously this had to be considered with a ‘line by line’ comparison of each document, but Albanese Government legislation says it could be done as a ‘global assessment’.

This means the FWC could look at the agreement as a whole and determine if on balance it makes employees better off.

The FWC also no longer has to consider every hypothetical working arrangement possible under an agreement, just situations that are ‘reasonably foreseeable’.

Should an issue that was not foreseeable arise, the parties can use a reconsideration process to amend the deal without holding up the company’s operations.

Employers can’t use this process as an opportunity to slash wages or conditions. 

‘The intention of the reconsideration process is to permit adjustments to the bargained outcome to the extent necessary to address the FWC’s concerns,’ the bill reads.

‘Not to reduce the entitlements or interfere with the working arrangements for employees who are not affected by the concerns, or unnecessarily disrupt the operations of the enterprise.’

Another $7.9 million over four years provides proactive support for workers and businesses ¿ in particular small business ¿ to help reach agreements that benefit them through the FWC

Another $7.9 million over four years provides proactive support for workers and businesses – in particular small business – to help reach agreements that benefit them through the FWC

Recovering lost wages

Workers who are owed pay or entitlements by their employer will be more easily able to sue to get them back.

The Budget provides $6.4 million over four years to fund the Federal Circuit and Family Court to improve the small claims process to better support the recovery of unpaid entitlements. 

There will also be review of the small claims process to find other ways of improving the system.

Other industrial relations policies

The Budget allocated $8.9 million over three years to support employer representatives and unions to improve safety, fairness and productivity in workplaces – including through training initiatives.

Another $7.9 million over four years provides proactive support for workers and businesses – in particular small business – to help reach agreements that benefit them through the FWC.

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