It could also force businesses to move offshore or automate more roles, a leading employment lawyer has warned.
would likely lead to a significant increase in strikes and could force businesses to move offshore, automate more roles or close altogether, a leading employment lawyer has warned.
But Mr Doyle said this would create “immense” industrial pressure on employers and would have “the capacity to bring some employers and supply chains to breaking point”. “Some will look to automation, partial divestment or offshoring [and] some business models might simply become unsustainable, or might need to find a new wages equilibrium that is lower than current rates.”He said sector-wide bargaining would also make clarity over what rights employers have to apply to terminate industrial action – currently a hot topic that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says will be discussed at the jobs summit – “even more critical”.
Ashurst employment partner Jon Lovell said the current “better off overall test” – which means employees’ conditions must be “better off” under an EBA than they would be under the relevant award – needed “some tweaks”, although it did not need to be abolished. “That could open up the discussion to having EBAs which are broader, create more flexibility and create incentives to improve productivity,” he said.“At the moment we have barriers to negotiations and a disincentive to negotiate in many industries,” he said, urging a return to the “Paul Keating vision for enterprise bargaining” where there were fewer awards and fewer clauses.
“A lot of our clients would like to see a mechanism for there to be a way of coming to a resolution, be it through arbitration or another mechanism, before negotiations get to that extent,” he said.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Childcare ripe for sector-wide bargaining but no standalone solution: industryProviders warn any increase in wages in the childcare sector will have to be backed by extra government funding or parents will be slugged with higher fees.
Read more »
Unions and businesses unite on TAFE and training ahead of jobs summitTreasurer Jim Chalmers says he is 'energised' by unions and business groups uniting to tackle problems in the training sector, despite them being at loggerheads about whether multi-employer bargaining should return.
Read more »
Business and unions soften stance on industry-wide bargaining and better off overall testThe Business Council and ACTU have signalled they’re prepared to give ground at the jobs summit, while coming together with other key industry groups in a rare joint statement.
Read more »
Unions and business agree on need for higher wages as jobs summit loomsACTU and business council want to revive ‘key principles’ of controversial enterprise bargaining deal dumped years ago
Read more »
LIVE COVERAGE: Business ‘very concerned’ by any changes to wage bargainingBCA CEO Jennifer Westacott says there are significant problems with moving to industry-wide bargaining; Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the current system is broken; ECB policymakers make the case for big rate increases. Follow the latest here.
Read more »