Industrial relations - Australian Security Industry Association Ltd (ASIAL)

Industrial relations

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Employee relations and the holidays - your responsibilities

New IR legislation to keep Unions happy

Last year, Kevin Rudd declared the election would be a referendum on industrial relations.

Twelve months on the bulk of Work Choices, introduced in March 2006, remains intact.

However, things are about to change. Labor's new system officially starts in January 2010. AWAs already signed will stay until their expiry in five years, in some cases until 2013.

Award Modernisation Update

ASIAL has recently been involved in making submissions to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) on the making of a new modern National Industry Award for the manpower sector of the security industry (the Security Services Industry Award)

Under the proposed changes, the modern award will set mandatory wages and conditions for security guards and monitoring personnel across the industry from 2010. Unlike current law, new and existing businesses will be required to comply with this expanded award system, as well as the government’s new universal national employment standards.

The ecurity Services Award will not cover security employees engaged primarily and substantially on Cash in Transit work nor will it cover Alarm, Access Control or CCTV systems installers. These groups will have their own national awards in the second round of award modernization.

The AIRC handed down an Exposure Draft – Security Services Award on September 12, 2008, after consultation with and written and oral submissions from, ASIAL, other employer parties and the Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union. ASIAL has made further submissions seeking to amend the Exposure Draft and will appear before the AIRC on 21 October to add to earlier submissions.

Employers in the manpower industry must prepare for, in many instances, significant changes to award pay and conditions for employees between 2010 and 2015 the transition period for the implementation of the new modern Security Services Award, bringing all employers and employees in the security services industry under one award.

All stakeholders in the Security Services Industry will need to be educated in the significance of the changes and the impact it will have on service delivery and cost.

There will be significant changes in the following areas:

• Rates of Pay
• Shift Work definitions
• Classifications
• Allowances
• Penalty Rates

The award will, with the National Employment Standards, form the safety net for employees not covered by an approved collective workplace agreement. It will also be the minimum standard against which a collective workplace agreement will be measured for the no disadvantage test.

The expectation from the Government is that most employers , large or small will become involved in collective agreements with employees, and their representative union(s).

There are, in general terms, a number of positives for employers in the draft legislation, including:

• Restrictions will remain on the content of bargaining claims, rather than being totally unfettered – as sought by the unions;

• Good faith bargaining obligations will be procedural in nature and the new body, Fair Work Australia, will not have the power to force a party to make concessions;

• There will be no right to take industrial action or access compulsory arbitration for multiple-business agreements;

The ability to vary awards outside of four-yearly reviews will be very limited;

A Minimum Wage Panel will be established within Fair Work Australia, drawing on the best elements of the past wage-setting approaches of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and the Australian Fair Pay Commission; and

The Fair Dismissal Code for small businesses will be short and easily applied.

More information is available at www.workplace.gov.au or www.airc.gov.au

Members who have employees involved in Security Manpower (with the exception of Cash In Transit and Alarm Installation) are encouraged to view the draft award and make comment to Chris Delaney at ir@asial.com.au

New industrial relations laws - A summary

Changes to the workplace relations system came into effect recently with the commencement of the Workplace Relations Amendment (Transition to Forward with Fairness) Act 2008, operative Friday 28 March 2008.
This is the start of the Labor Governments progress towards a new workplace relations system. This will continue with further changes to be implemented through to 2010.
The key changes introduced recently include:

No new Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) can be entered into after the introduction date of 28 March 2008;
Individual Transitional Employment Agreements (ITEAs) are to the place of AWAs for employers who were using AWAs as at 1 December 2007;
A new "no disadvantage test" for new collective agreements and ITEAs; and
The Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) will start the process of "award modernisation”.

Much of this information is available from the Workplace Authority site at: www.workplaceauthority.gov.au

Fair Pay Decision

The Fair Pay Commission (the Commission) decision handed down on Tuesday, 8 July 2008 applies to employees on minimum rates of pay engaged by employers covered by the Workplace Relations Act 2008.

The Commission has granted a general pay increase that will adjust the standard Federal Minimum Wage (FMW) and Australian Pay and Classification Scales (Pay Scales) as follows:

An increase of $21.66 per week ($0.57 per hour) to the standard FMW, bringing the weekly rate to $543.78. The standard FMW increases from $13.74 to $14.31 per hour and;
An increase of approximately $21.66 per week ($0.57 per hour) in adult Pay Scales.
The general Wage-Setting Decision 2008 takes effect from the first pay period on or after 1 October 2008.

ASIAL members have access to an Award and Employee Relations advisory service. Email: ir@asial.com.au

More Industrial Relations information can be found in the member area of the website.