THE Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee has released its report on the Fair Work Amendment Bill 2014, with the Committee Majority recommending the the proposed legislation pass without change.

Ordered by the Senate in March 2014, the Committee reviewed submissions from 23 key stakeholders including employers and unions to conclude the bill should be passed.

Areas covered by the Committee in which AREEA has been a major proponent for change include ‘greenfields’ agreement-making, union site entry and individual flexibility arrangements.

Greenfields agreement-making

Referring to the Fair Work Review Panel’s finding that ‘existing provisions conferred significant capacity on unions to frustrate and delay the making of appropriate greenfields agreements in a timely way’, the Committee Majority backed the government’s proposal for employers to be able to take a proposed agreement to the Fair Work Commission after three months of failed negotiations.

The Committee Majority was also satisfied with employee protections stipulated in the bill, as well as incentives for employers and employees to bargain in good faith.

However, while the Committee’s support for a fairer greenfields negotiations process is welcomed by the resource industry, AREEA continues to have concerns around the proposed ‘prevailing industry standards test’.

“The amendment bill is a positive step towards a more realistic process for new project agreements. However, AREEA is concerned about the requirement to not only better the award safety net, but to meet even higher ‘prevailing industry standards’ before new project arrangements are approved,” said AREEA executive director Scott Barklamb.

“While perhaps intended to stop the ‘leap-frogging’ of wages from one construction contract to the next, employers fear the government’s proposed test may inadvertently lock-in the currently inflated and unsustainable wage levels as the benchmark for all future projects.”

AREEA will continue to advocate for the removal of ‘prevailing industry standards’ from the bill’s greenfields provisions.

Union right of entry

Another major policy priority for AREEA has been the reversal of Labor’s expanded union site entry laws that will soon require employers to subsidise union visits to remote worksites, including providing transport and accommodation.

In addition to proposing this roll back, the Fair Work Amendment Bill 2014 will implement a broadening of Fair Work Commission powers to manage disputes around visitation frequency and add new restrictions to the default location of union interviews on site.

The ACTU opposed the proposal in its submission to the Committee, stating the changes “will practically prevent people from getting access to their union at work, including by restricting the right of permit holders, who are fit and proper and who have received education, to access lunch rooms to see workers when they are on their breaks.”

The Committee Majority, however, recognised the current laws as imposing a financial burden on employers and accepted the bill as ‘restoring balance to both the ability of employees to participate in and be represented by trade union, but also the ability of employers to conduct their businesses without unnecessary or inappropriate burdens’.

AREEA has long advocated the repeal of amendments to union right of entry laws and welcomes the Committee Majority’s shared position on balancing workplace policy settings to return the pendulum to the sensible centre.

Individual flexibility arrangements (IFA)

Proposed changes to IFAs will see more flexibility returned to enterprise agreements as time constraints on notice of termination of IFAs will be extended from four weeks to 13 and employees will be given more scope to negotiate genuinely with employers.

In an explanation of current issues, the Department of Employment stated that, “…at one workplace, an employee might only be allowed to make an IFA about penalty rates but if they were with another employer they might only be allowed to make an IFA about leave loading. It doesn’t make much sense and is different again if you work under an award.”

According to the report, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) argued that “the proposed changes to IFAs would result in ‘pizza for conditions’ provisions, and result in a situation where employees can trade away core entitlements for non-monetary benefits.”

However, the Committee Majority rejected the ACTU’s position and stated that “the proposed changes to IFAs are appropriate and reasonable”.

To read the Committee report, including the minority dissenting reports from ALP and Greens Senators, click here.

The Senate is expected to vote on the Fair Work Act Amendment Bill 2014 in the near future.