Mr BURKE - 2005-10-20
The federal government is proposing to allow AWAs to override collective agreements. Are you aware of any AWAs being used instead of collective agreements in the Northern Territory?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Brennan for his question. This is a topical question. The Palmerston City Council is adopting a policy of insisting that all new employees sign up to an Australian Workplace Agreement as a condition of employment. This is the same method that is being employed by the federal Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. Under this AWA with Palmerston City Council, new employees are having their annual leave entitlement, which is an award entitlement, reduced from six weeks to four weeks. The Palmerston Mayor has often responded that council employees are quite happy with the AWAs.
There has been a recent opinion survey undertaken by Peter Berry Consultancy of the council employees. They were asked what four things would most change Palmerston City Council for the better. The most frequent response was enterprise partnership agreement or an EBA. The employees were also asked what the four worst things about working for Palmerston City Council were and, overwhelmingly, the most frequent response was individual contracts or AWAs. I believe the response of workers is not surprising because, generally in Australia since these were introduced in 1997 under the federal Workplace Relations Act, only 2.4% of the Australian work force has taken up AWAs. The federal government is spending many tens or even hundreds of million dollars trying to promote their federal industrial relations agenda.
In contrast, Katherine Town Council workers enjoy the benefits of collective bargaining, and they have been obtaining improvements to conditions of employment, including 14 weeks paid maternity leave, as well as an increase in wages. The trade-off has been in certain productivity areas for the employer. Katherine is to be commended; there has been a win for employees and also a win for the council.
I urge employers to seriously think about these Australian Workplace Agreements because, at the end of the day, they are aimed at cutting working conditions and wages, where enterprise bargaining agreement has been shown to be a productive way forward for the Australian workplace.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Brennan for his question. This is a topical question. The Palmerston City Council is adopting a policy of insisting that all new employees sign up to an Australian Workplace Agreement as a condition of employment. This is the same method that is being employed by the federal Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. Under this AWA with Palmerston City Council, new employees are having their annual leave entitlement, which is an award entitlement, reduced from six weeks to four weeks. The Palmerston Mayor has often responded that council employees are quite happy with the AWAs.
There has been a recent opinion survey undertaken by Peter Berry Consultancy of the council employees. They were asked what four things would most change Palmerston City Council for the better. The most frequent response was enterprise partnership agreement or an EBA. The employees were also asked what the four worst things about working for Palmerston City Council were and, overwhelmingly, the most frequent response was individual contracts or AWAs. I believe the response of workers is not surprising because, generally in Australia since these were introduced in 1997 under the federal Workplace Relations Act, only 2.4% of the Australian work force has taken up AWAs. The federal government is spending many tens or even hundreds of million dollars trying to promote their federal industrial relations agenda.
In contrast, Katherine Town Council workers enjoy the benefits of collective bargaining, and they have been obtaining improvements to conditions of employment, including 14 weeks paid maternity leave, as well as an increase in wages. The trade-off has been in certain productivity areas for the employer. Katherine is to be commended; there has been a win for employees and also a win for the council.
I urge employers to seriously think about these Australian Workplace Agreements because, at the end of the day, they are aimed at cutting working conditions and wages, where enterprise bargaining agreement has been shown to be a productive way forward for the Australian workplace.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016