Canberra sets out to rebalance power in the workplace

A SUITE of reforms to Australia’s industrial relations laws – particularly one item on workers’ rights to switch off – seems to have drawn international attention, including here in Singapore. To understand the changes, they should be seen in the light of election promises of the Australian Labor Party. The party claimed that wages had stagnated for decades while business profits had soared. Thus, there was a pressing need to ensure that workers got their fair share of the growing economic pie. Labour reforms got under way after the party won office in May 2022.

The first major amendment – then considered the most controversial – was in a Bill that enabled unions to new rights when bargaining collectively. Trade union and business leaders were at loggerheads during the months before the amendments were passed in late 2022. In essence, the revisions made it easier for unions to negotiate pay deals that cover multiple enterprises providing similar services. For instance, many firms operate pre-school childcare facilities or old folks’ homes. Clients pay roughly the same amount for these services in any given location. Workers provide similar services but their pay varies from workplace to workplace.

Under the old laws, representatives of unionised workers would have had to tackle each enterprise separately. Since 2022, several such firms could be agglomerated in multi-employer pay deals. There are exemptions for operators with fewer than 20 employees and other provisions if a firm employed fewer than 50 workers.