Secure Jobs, Better Pay: Workers win with new laws

In September 1985, Bob Hawke introduced the first elements of the ACTU-ALP Prices and Incomes Accord, which changed the landscape of workplace laws in our country for good.

Bob Hawke led a new federal Labor government that was eager to turn the tide on the anti-worker laws and sentiments which the previous conservative government had championed. This was a fresh-faced government keen to modernise industrial relations.

The parallels of that moment and our current one are apparent. The Albanese Labor Government was elected in May 2022 on a promise to raise wages, increase workers’ bargaining power and bring greater fairness to Australian workplace relations.

The ALP’s signature industrial relations bill – best known as the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill – made its way through Parliament last December and was largely supported by the Australian union movement.

Here are four of the key changes for HACSU members.

Streamlining bargaining: No more excuses from lazy bosses

A new section of the Act has been created to allow unions to initiate bargaining to replace expired workplace agreements. In the past, employers have been allowed to sit on their hands until they decided they were ready, or until workers went through an onerous process to get a ‘majority support determination’ from Fair Work.

HACSU members might be familiar with a situation where their workplace enterprise agreement had expired and a wage rise was due… but the employer was not willing to commence bargaining.

With this new change, those days are gone.

HACSU, as a bargaining representative, can now compel employers to commence bargaining for a replacement agreement whether the employer wants to or not.

Sector bargaining: Industry-wide pay rises

The Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill has introduced a new way to do bargaining called single interest bargaining. This is often called “sector bargaining” or “industry bargaining”. By doing bargaining this way, multiple employers are encouraged to bargain for a single agreement.

In the past, the Fair Work Act has prioritised single workplace agreements. That means each employer negotiates on their own and workers in the same industry might end up with very different rates of pay and working conditions depending on the agreements made with each employer.

Employer groups were strongly opposed to industry bargaining because it could likely see workers receiving pay rises and trade union participation increasing.

Why were they so opposed to that? Because this type of bargaining would allow unions to apply for ‘a single interest employer authorisation’ which would compel multiple employers from the same industry to bargain for a single agreement.

For unions, that means it’s easier to include a larger group of workers in the bargaining process. Workers across multiple employers and entire sectors will see the wins achieved by HACSU through a single EBA campaign.

This should see wages rise across a sector as more workers are included in union-negotiated bargaining agreements, which will always have better conditions than non-union agreements.

Gender equity and sexual harassment: women workers winning

For a union like ours whose members are mostly women, it is encouraging that the Fair Work Act has been amended to include the ‘promotion of job security and gender equity’.

This value statement has been coupled with real mechanisms to improve gender equality in the workplace.

The Fair Work Commission is now required to consider ‘the need to achieve gender equality [and eliminate] gender-based undervaluation of work and addressing gender pay gaps’ when awards are updated.

The Act has also been amended to ensure that equal pay for women must be prioritised when the Fair Work Commission considers Equal Renumeration orders.

Sexual harassment in the workplace is now explicitly prohibited in the Fair Work Act, and the Fair Work Commission has been enshrined with powers which allow it to resolve disputes which involve sexual harassment. And where the Commission is unable to resolve a dispute about harassment in the workplace, a worker can commence civil proceedings in the Federal Court.

Changes to small claims: bad news for wage thieves

Workers and their unions will be able to recover larger amounts of money from dodgy bosses more quickly, simply and cheaply with new changes to the Fair Work Act.

In the past, if you’d been underpaid by more than $20,000 you would have to go to the Federal Circuit Court to recover your stolen wages. Just to file to have your case heard can cost up to $1400 and you would usually have to be represented by a lawyer or a union.

But from 1 July this year, workers will be able to go through small claims to reclaim amounts of up to $100,000 instead. It’s cheaper than going through the Federal Circuit Court as well as being much more straightforward to navigate.

It’s bad news for wage thieves who might have been counting on the daunting process of going through the Federal Circuit Court to deter workers from taking back the money that’s been withheld from them.

And it’s great news for workers who can now more easily get what they’re owed.

Where to now

Even when we support certain policies of a political party, we’ll never be able to solely rely on politicians to do the right thing.

As trade unionists, we understand that workers’ rights will only be improved through our own collective action and solidarity.

Nevertheless, it’s important that workers understand these fundamental changes to Australian workplace laws, and how we can best use them to improve conditions and help build power for working people.