What’s in a work agreement?

The Australian Industrial Relations Commission will certainly have its work cut out in developing rules to accommodate the recent landmark High Court decision in the Electrolux case. The panel will have to decide what employment issues can be included in union wage negotiations with employers.

In Electrolux, the Australian Workers Union sought to include in an enterprise agreement the requirement that employees pay the union a bargaining fee before qualifying for a union-negotiated pay increase. The Court’s ruling, however, effectively limits what can be put on the table in agreements to be approved by the Commission because it excludes issues deemed to lie outside the “direct” employment relationship.

The Commission now has to decide what falls within that category – not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination. The peak industrial employers’ peak body, The Australian Industry Group, recently wrote to the Commission, requesting that the High Court decision be fully and consistently applied by all members of the panel. The group also asked the Commission to convene a full bench to establish rules to implement the Court’s decision.

There is a good argument for a more inclusive definition. After all, numerous issues affect productivity – not to mention quality of work life and the workplace environment – of which the pay packet is merely one, albeit the most important. In deciding whether something such as childcare is a part of the direct employment relationship, the Commission will need to consider its importance to employees, any burdens it might conceivably place on the employer and whether it is reasonable to expect the employer to have a role in providing or facilitating such as service.

Getting the full bench to address the question is an excellent suggestion. One would hope, however, that the benefits of the subsequent discussion will extend beyond its immediate goal, shedding new light on the needs of employees and the extent to which employers can meet them.