Resource industry awards currently under review
Fair Work Australia (FWA) is presently conducting a review of all 122 modern awards.
While our industry largely operates in an enterprise bargaining context, any expansion of the minimum terms and conditions on which those agreements are based is an important issue.
AMMA has not initiated any variations to the various modern awards that apply in our industry (listed below) as we believe there is no need to expand the current minimum terms and conditions.
However, FWA will be determining award variation applications made by others that are likely to impact on our industry, including applications proposing to:
- Increase wage rates and introduce terms and conditions for apprentices that do not currently exist in a broad range of modern awards including some resource industry awards and specifically in the Black Coal Mining Industry Award; and
- Vary the coverage of the Black Coal Mining Industry Award to exclude work performed by mechanical, electrical and potentially other contractors.
A comprehensive list of the modern awards that AMMA members are most involved with follows, including hyperlinks to applications for variation that have been made by any party in relation to that particular award. There are also applications filed relating to multiple awards that are not listed under the individual awards but which may nevertheless impact on your organisation.
List of modern awards most relevant to the resource industry
Black Coal Mining Industry Award
Building & Construction General On-site Award
Electrical, Electronic and Communications Contracting Award
Hospitality Industry (General) Award
Hydrocarbons Field Geologists Award
Hydrocarbons Industry (Upstream) Award
Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations Award
Maritime Offshore Oil and Gas Award
Oil Refining and Manufacturing Award
Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award
Professional Diving Industry (Industrial) Award
Road Transport (Long Distance Operations) Award
Security Services Industry Award
AMMA seeks your views
AMMA is seeking your views and any practical experiences you wish to share about the potential impact of the proposed amendments to any modern awards, which we will use to frame our submissions in response to any applications to vary those awards. In particular, we are interested in:
- Any impact of increased minimum wage rates for apprentices and the inclusion of specific apprentice/trainee terms and conditions in any of the respondent awards in relation to training, probation, hours of work, travel payments and loadings, suspension/cancellation/termination of apprenticeship contracts; and
- Any views about whether those issues would be relevant to any other awards if FWA decided to vary those awards in a similar fashion as that proposed for other awards.
In AMMA's view, there are also some outstanding questions in relation to how broad the two-yearly review should be in terms of introducing terms and conditions that do not presently exist in a broad range of modern awards. The award review process itself in terms of scheduling and meetings has also raised some concerns.
Your input on these issues would be greatly appreciated.
Please provide any comments to AMMA senior workplace policy adviser Lisa Matthews on (02) 9211 3566 or at [email protected].
