INDUSTRY NEWS
JOBS AND SKILLS SUMMIT
THIS ARTICLE WAS PREPARED BY MST LAWYERS, WHO OPERATE THE HRNET SERVICE FOR ALL HRIA AND EWPA MEMBERS.
and any changes would be required to pass the Senate. In this article, we outline some of the Government’s proposed changes.
Outcome from the 2022 Jobs and Skills Summit THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S JOBS AND SKILLS SUMMIT WAS HELD AT PARLIAMENT HOUSE IN CANBERRA ON 1-2 SEPTEMBER.
More than 140 people representing government, employers, unions, industry groups, academia and community members were invited to discuss the economic challenges and opportunities facing the Australian labour market and economy.
Enterprise Agreement Bargaining System Legislative reform to enterprise bargaining has been a big ticket item in the ALP’s industrial reforms agenda even before the Summit.
Enterprise Bargaining The Government is committed to ensuring that all businesses and workers can negotiate in good faith for agreements that benefit them, particularly underrepresented groups such as First Nations people, women, people with disability and small businesses. Currently, the Fair Work Commission can only ensure that parties are bargaining in good faith and provide a forum for conciliations, but do not have any powers to require a party to reach agreement. As a result of the Summit, it is proposed the Fair Work Commission will take a more proactive role in assisting businesses (particularly small and medium businesses) and workers in the bargaining process.
Multi-Employer Bargaining The Government will ensure that workers and businesses have flexible options for reaching agreements, such as allowing for multi-employer bargaining. This approach would likely increase the level of union-led bargaining across sectors and different businesses. The prospect of multi-employer bargaining is not confined to small business employers and is subject to further consultation with unions and industry leaders. Better Off Overall Test Currently, enterprise agreements must pass the Better Off Overall Test before the Fair Work Commission can approve the agreement. The Fair Work Act provides that the Fair Work Commission must be satisfied, at the test time (which is the date the application of the approval of the agreement was lodged), that each award covered employee, and each prospective award covered employee, who would be covered by the agreement would be better off overall if the agreement applied to the employee rather than if the relevant modern award. The Government proposes to simplify the Better Off Overall Test so it can be
The Summit covered five broad themes: 1. Maintaining full employment and growing productivity. 2. Boosting job security and wages. 3. Lifting participation and reducing barriers to employment. 4. Delivering a high-quality labour force through skills, training and migration. 5. Maximising opportunities in the industries of the future. Following the summit, the Federal Government released its Outcomes Paper highlighting 36 immediate actions and priorities for further work and future action. The Outcomes Paper can be found on The Treasury website, One key outcome was to update the Fair Work Act to create a simple, flexible and fair new framework. The details of the proposed reforms remain unclear
8
NOVEMBER 2022
