For everyone The laws of attraction (and retention)
For more than a decade, a decline in collective bargaining has created a race to the bottom among employers seeking to minimise wages and maximise profits. Under successive Liberal governments’ anti-worker laws, Australia had reached unacceptable levels of job insecurity, stagnating wages, declining union membership, and increased casualisation.
In June 2023, the Albanese Labor government introduced new laws that seek to restore the balance – shifting the bargaining power back towards workers by improving access to single and multi-employer agreements. Along with other legislation to close loopholes that penalised workers, the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill aims to improve job security, promote gender equity and, ultimately, lift wages.
Workers employed under collective enterprise agreements generally enjoy better pay and conditions. We can see this in our own sectors, with multi-employer agreements (MEAs) setting the benchmarks we seek to match for members across each of our sectors. Nationally, the number of employees covered by MEAs has plummeted, covering only around one-fifth of workers, according to recent Australia Institute data.
The AEU has already been making good use of the new laws, which allow workers within a sector to collectively bargain for a single agreement across multiple employers.
Late last year, teachers across Victoria’s 12 standalone TAFEs banded together to secure the right to a single interest agreement, granted by the Fair Work Commission (FWC) in November. Alongside the right to bargain for a collective agreement, it means TAFE members can now take industrial action in support of their claims – something that was not available to them under their previous form of agreement.
New laws brought in by the federal Labor government are a positive step towards better employment standards across the education sector.
The Secure Jobs Bill also introduced a new supported bargaining stream to replace ‘low-paid authorisations’ as the main avenue for increasing wages through multi-employer bargaining. Once a supported bargaining authorisation is made, the FWC has powers to assist the parties bargaining towards an enterprise agreement, with employers subject to certain rules. The expectation under the new laws is that the FWC will consider the prevalence of low rates of pay in an industry or sector.
The AEU is utilising these new laws to create better standards in the early childhood sector. A joint application by the AEU, the United Workers Union, and the Independent Education Union to bargain across multiple employers has recently been granted by the FWC. The first authorisation of its kind, this means employers across the country can now jointly advocate for higher wages and improved conditions for teachers and educators working in early childhood education and care (ECEC) services.
The new laws also herald the end of ‘zombie agreements’ – those in place before 1 January 2010 and still in operation even though they’ve passed their expiry date. The AEU had 19 zombie agreements within our disability sector, containing better clauses than the modern award. The supported bargaining option means that many of the services that were on individual zombie agreements will, if approved, now be able to bargain together for a joint agreement.
With the Health and Community Services Union (HACSU), the AEU has applied to the FWC for a disability service supported bargaining authorisation covering disability employees in day and community-based services as well as residential care workers across more than 20 disability service providers. This process is due to be heard by the Fair Work Commission in November.
More broadly, the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill seeks to curb the use of fixed term contracts; now limited to two years, after which time employees must be offered ongoing employment. It also seeks to improve working conditions for women by introducing an enforceable right to request flexible working arrangements, banning pay secrecy clauses, and shifting the onus onto employers to prevent sexual harassment.
These improvements are due to a decades-long pushback by unions against anti-worker laws. The AEU will continue to use this new legislation to secure better working lives for our members.
