Submission 167 Australian Council of Trade Unions Workplace Relations Framework Public inquiry

Inquiry into the Workplace Relations Framework

ACTU Submission to the Productivity Commission

This submission uses unit record data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. The HILDA Project was initiated and is funded by the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) and is managed by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (MIAESR). The findings and views reported in this report, however, are those of the authors and should not be attributed to either FaHCSIA or the MIAESR.

Table Contents

Table Contents ii

Index to Tables viii

Index to Figures ix

Appendices xi

Abbreviations xii

Key points and observations 1
Chapter 1

First Principles:

The Purpose of Industrial Relations Regulation. 13

Chapter 2

The International Context 19

Chapter 3

Competition Policy 26

Chapter 4

Labour Market Trends in the 21^st Century: Australia and beyond. 30

Chapter 5

Measuring the Economic Impacts of Industrial Relations Regulation:

(A) Macroeconomic effects. 76

Chapter 6

Measuring the Economic Impacts of Industrial Relations Regulation:

(B) Compliance Costs 83

Chapter 7

Measuring the Economic Impacts of Industrial Relations Regulation:

(C) Gaps and Avoidance Incentives. 87

Chapter 8

The Safety Net:

(1) Minimum Wages 112

Chapter 9

The Safety Net:

(2A) The Award System. 142

Chapter 10

The Safety Net:

(2B) Penalty Rates 149

Chapter 11

The Safety Net:

(3) National Employment Standards. 168

Chapter 12

The Safety Net: (4) Resolving Disputes 191

Chapter 13

The Safety Net:

(5) Flexibility beyond and within. 193

Chapter 14

Collective Bargaining:

(1) Making an agreement. 210

Chapter 15

Collective Bargaining:

(2) Barriers to fair, efficient and effective agreement making in the Public Sector 246

Chapter 16

Collective Bargaining:

(3) While an Agreement is in Operation 271

Chapter 17

Individual Arrangements 275

Chapter 18

Employment Protections

(1) Unfair Dismissal 301

Chapter 19

Employment Protections:

(2) Unlawful Termination and General Protections 318

Chapter 20

Employment Protections:

(3) Workplace Bullying 327

Chapter 21

Accessing Workplaces 335

Chapter 22

Institutional Performance. 347

About the ACTU

The Australian Council of Trade Unions is the peak body representing almost 2 million working Australians.  The ACTU and its affiliated unions have a long and proud history of representing workers’ industrial and legal rights and advocating for improvements to legislation to protect these rights. 

Index to Tables

Index to Figures

Appendices

1 . Table showing the major evolving features of modern industrial relations laws.

2. ACTU principles for labour chapters in trade agreements.

3. Case study: Sham contracting in construction industry.

4 . Case study: “Start up” agreements in the coal mining industry.

5. International comparison regarding rest days, work and compensation.

6 . Tests used by federal and state industrial relations systems to assess agreements against the safety net.

7. Case study: Agreement making in the construction industry.

Abbreviations

AIRC	Australian Industrial Relations Commission
AWA	Australian Workplace Agreement
BOOT	Better Off Overall Test
C&A Act	Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904
C&A Commission	Conciliation and Arbitration Commission
FW Act	Fair Work Act 2009
FW Commission / FWC	Fair Work Commission
FWA	Fair Work Australia
FWBC	Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate
FWBI	Fair Work (Building Industry) Act 2012
FWO	Fair Work Ombudsman
IFA	Individual Flexibility Arrangement
ILO	International Labour Organisation
IR Act	Industrial Relations Act 1988
NES	National Employment Standards
PC	Productivity Commission
RO Act	Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009
TCPA Act	Fair Work (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Act 2009
UD	Unfair Dismissal
WorkChoices	Workplace Relations Act 1996 as amended by the Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Act 2005
WR Act	Workplace Relations Act 1996 as amended until March 2006.