agreement, the decision in found that efforts have been made to reach Endeavour Coal compliance with GFB requires genuine attempts to reach a agreement and no agreement has concluded agreement and ordered the company to concede been reached. terms that it would accept in an enterprise agreement. This effect of the decision is that there is a live question about whether parties can ever from negotiations. ‘walk away’ Majority support 236 Majority support determinations compel employers to bargain. Majority support determinations BARRIER determinations Doing away with the voluntary nature of bargaining goes should no longer be a feature of beyond ILO obligations and undermines the legitimacy of the the FW Act. If they are to be bargaining process. In a practical sense it requires employers retained, there should be a to embark on a process of driving up labour costs, with no requirement for the agreement to obligation to offset those costs through increased productivity. include measures to boost productivity at the workplace. Scope orders 238 Scope orders give FWC the power to dictate to an employer, Scope orders should no longer be BARRIER at the initiative of an employee or their representative, how it a feature of the FW Act. FWC must organise its internal business structures. This is an could have the capacity to unreasonable intrusion into the business affairs of employers. conciliate disputes over It can have significant consequences for employers, both in agreement scope, but should not relation to labour costs and harmonious workplace relations. have the power to decide them. Low-paid bargaining Div 9, Part This process sits on the premise that productivity The objects of improving BARRIER 2-4 improvements will flow from bargaining in award-reliant productivity and service delivery sectors of the economy. As discussed above, this is a false can best be achieved through premise in the context of bargaining designed to increase professional advice on how labour costs without any requirement to change work practices current workplace practices can to improve productivity and service delivery. be improved or streamlined. FWC is not best placed to provide this advice. Employers who are compelled to engage in low-paid bargaining should have access to professional advice at no cost, to support the enterprise agreement design processes. Minimum wages Wage setting process 285 Annual wage reviews are conducted by FWC and are decided Consideration should be given to BARRIER
agreement, the decision in Endeavour Coal found that compliance with GFB requires genuine attempts to reach a concluded agreement and ordered the company to concede terms that it would accept in an enterprise agreement. This effect of the decision is that there is a live question about whether parties can ever ‘walk away’ from negotiations. efforts have been made to reach agreement and no agreement has been reached. Majority support determinations 236 Majority support determinations compel employers to bargain. Doing away with the voluntary nature of bargaining goes beyond ILO obligations and undermines the legitimacy of the bargaining process. In a practical sense it requires employers to embark on a process of driving up labour costs, with no obligation to offset those costs through increased productivity. Majority support determinations should no longer be a feature of the FW Act. If they are to be retained, there should be a requirement for the agreement to include measures to boost productivity at the workplace. BARRIER Scope orders 238 Scope orders give FWC the power to dictate to an employer, at the initiative of an employee or their representative, how it must organise its internal business structures. This is an unreasonable intrusion into the business affairs of employers. It can have significant consequences for employers, both in relation to labour costs and harmonious workplace relations. Scope orders should no longer be a feature of the FW Act. FWC could have the capacity to conciliate disputes over agreement scope, but should not have the power to decide them. BARRIER Low-paid bargaining Div 9, Part 2-4 This process sits on the premise that productivity improvements will flow from bargaining in award-reliant sectors of the economy. As discussed above, this is a false premise in the context of bargaining designed to increase labour costs without any requirement to change work practices to improve productivity and service delivery. The objects of improving productivity and service delivery can best be achieved through professional advice on how current workplace practices can be improved or streamlined. FWC is not best placed to provide this advice. Employers who are compelled to engage in low-paid bargaining should have access to professional advice at no cost, to support the enterprise agreement design processes. BARRIER Minimum wages Wage setting process 285 Annual wage reviews are conducted by FWC and are decided Consideration should be given to BARRIER