Despite abolishing new AWAs, the resources sector is pleased that the Government has not succumbed to the demands of some unions to make more radical changes’, Mr Steve Knott Chief Executive of Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) said yesterday.

As expected the Bill abolishes new Australian Workplace Agreements but caters for new individual statutory agreements called Individual Transitional Employment Arrangements (ITEAs) until December 2009. ITEAs must pass a No Disadvantage Test (NDT). Given the wages paid in the resources sector, this presents no short-term difficulty for employers who have individual statutory agreements with their entire workforce.

‘Employers in the resources sector will, and in some cases have already, developed strategies to deal with the loss of AWAs. The use of other legislative mechanisms to facilitate direct employment, increased employee engagement and increased organisational effectiveness will be actively pursued’ Mr Knott said.

‘The resources sector has good working relationships with its employees and the focus will remain on maintaining those relationships within a new industrial relations system. The resources sector is well placed to manage change and many will commence the transition from AWAs to employee collective agreements to sustain their direct employment arrangements. Our members are practical and will simply get on with the job of industrial relations strategy planning for the long term’, Mr Knott said.

To read AMMA's full media release, click here...