arrangements suited to it must be as non-prescriptive as possible, them” then so that they can have a broad range of provisions from which they can draw. Agreements need to make employees ‘better off overall’ The AWU firmly believes that the requirement that agreements need to make employees (BOOT) must remain in place. ‘better off overall’ Firstly, this measure directly responds to one of this chief concerns Inquiry’s that regulation must determine employers and employees can bargain for “how better conditions” and importantly, goes some way to address the staggering, increasing inequality in Australia, which has been found to be bad for economy. Indeed, evidence demonstrates that rules promoting Australia’s inequality in industrial legislation are a significant part of the problem. The International Monetary Fund has conducted research over the last 50 years and found that countries tend to have lower and less “more unequal durable economic growth”. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows that in 2002, just 13.8% of Australian workers were low paid, much lower than the OECD average of 17.2%. Yet by 2012, the percentage of low paid Australian workers had risen to 18.9% the biggest rise in the OECD over that – period whilst the OECD average had fallen to 16.3%. This is despite – Australia having a better performing economy than its peers over this time. More recently, Oxfam released a report on Australia the “Still Lucky Country?” in which it reveals that the richest 1% of Australians own the same wealth as the bottom 60%. Indeed, richest person owns more than the bottom Australia’s 10% of the population combined (2.27 million people) whilst the nine richest individuals own more than the bottom 20% (4.54 million people). Last year, the of the IMF’s Managing Director, Christine Lagarde, warned us importance of that growth is more inclusive and that the rules of “making sure
arrangements suited to them” then it must be as non-prescriptive as possible, so that they can have a broad range of provisions from which they can draw. Agreements need to make employees ‘better off overall’ The AWU firmly believes that the requirement that agreements need to make employees ‘better off overall’ (BOOT) must remain in place. Firstly, this measure directly responds to one of this Inquiry’s chief concerns that regulation must determine “how employers and employees can bargain for better conditions” and importantly, goes some way to address the staggering, increasing inequality in Australia, which has been found to be bad for Australia’s economy. Indeed, evidence demonstrates that rules promoting inequality in industrial legislation are a significant part of the problem. The International Monetary Fund has conducted research over the last 50 years and found that “more unequal countries tend to have lower and less durable economic growth”. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows that in 2002, just 13.8% of Australian workers were low paid, much lower than the OECD average of 17.2%. Yet by 2012, the percentage of low paid Australian workers had risen to 18.9% – the biggest rise in the OECD over that period – whilst the OECD average had fallen to 16.3%. This is despite Australia having a better performing economy than its peers over this time. More recently, Oxfam released a report on Australia “Still the Lucky Country?” in which it reveals that the richest 1% of Australians own the same wealth as the bottom 60%. Indeed, Australia’s richest person owns more than the bottom 10% of the population combined (2.27 million people) whilst the nine richest individuals own more than the bottom 20% (4.54 million people). Last year, the IMF’s Managing Director, Christine Lagarde, warned us of the importance of “making sure that growth is more inclusive and that the rules of