THE VICTORIAN Government recently signed off on a deal that will refer its industrial relations powers to the Commonwealth, in a move that will give 350,000 of Victoria’s low-paid workers access to new entitlements such as redundancy and bereavement pay.
THE VICTORIAN Government recently signed off on a deal that will refer its industrial relations powers to the Commonwealth, in a move that will give 350,000 of Victoria’s low-paid workers access to new entitlements such as redundancy and bereavement pay.
After protracted negotiations, Victoria’s Industrial Relations Minister Rob Hulls said the Commonwealth had agreed to Victoria’s request to amend draft legislation that will ensure Schedule 1A employees are covered by the Federal Award safety net system.
The Victorian Government effectively referred its industrial relations powers to the Federal Government in 1997, following then-Premier Jeff Kennett’s decision to dump Victorian Awards.
This latest agreement cements the decision, and will see the Bracks Government proclaim its Federal Awards (Uniform System) Bill, referring power for common rule awards to the Commonwealth. Twenty allowance award matters such as minimum weekly pay rates, overtime and loading will be covered.
“Victoria is the only state where workplaces are regulated by a single system, which means employers are not subject to the costs, complexity and duplication of dealing with separate state and federal systems,” said Federal Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews.
“I am pleased Mr Hulls has preserved the national workplace relations system as it operates in Victoria and decided not to introduce a new state industrial system, which would have been a backwards step.”
Hulls added that the Commonwealth would amend its legislation to ensure Victoria’s landmark outworker legislation is not overridden. The Outworkers (Improved Protection) Act 2003 gives outworkers the same rights as employees, rather than contractors, in core areas such as occupational health and safety and long service leave.
He said the deal was a major victory for many hard working Victorians who had been treated like second class employees for too long.
“Victorian businesses will benefit from being part of Australia’s only unitary industrial relations system, a fairer, simpler approach that the Bracks Government has been advocating for all year,” he said.
Minister Andrews called on Hulls to honour his promise to lobby other states to do the same, following a commitment to do so at a recent function in Melbourne.
“I look forward to Mr Hulls’ honouring his commitment and urge him to waste no time in promoting the benefits of the Australian Government’s workplace relations system with his state Labor colleagues,” Minister Andrews said.
