For decades, one of the distinctive aspects of Australian society was its commitment to a ‘fair go’ for all employees - reflected in widespread support for an independent body, the IR Commission, to set minimum wages and employment conditions.
The Prime Minister, John Howard, announced major reforms to our IR system last week to a torrent of media comment – but the debate is so technical most people are probably still unsure what it means and how it will affect them.
The existing system works like this. Most occupations have a minimum wage and basic employment standards set out in a legal document called an ‘award’. The IR commission updates the minimum award wage annually for employees who have no bargaining power.
For the rest, their wages and conditions are set through a workplace agreement with their employer which must meet the ‘no-disadvantage test’ – overall employees cannot be worse off than they would be under the award. So awards act as a ‘safety net’, especially for employees in non-union workplaces.
John Howard says his latest reforms retain awards and the IR commission, modernising our employment system without disadvantaging employees – but the reality is the reform package will set in motion changes which will signal the death of the award safety net.
No comments:
Post a Comment