Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke included a “supported bargaining” stream in the Secure Jobs,Better Pay bill he introduced to parliament last week,which makes it easier for care sector workers to band together across employers to push for higher wages,a move met with trepidation by some providers.
He has also slated aveto power for unions over multi-employer deals hatched directly between workplaces and their staff,saying the amendment was about giving bargaining power to workers over collective agreements in the care sector.
“We’re going into extra territory to try to really focus on providing extra leverage,particularly in feminised industries. The areas that have been held back are areas like childcare ...[and] aged care. They’re not militant workplaces,they’re the ones that this reform is very squarely aimed at,” he told Nine’sWeekend Today program on Sunday.
Reflecting broader outcry from businesses,Aged and Community Care Providers Association chief executive Tom Symondson said on Friday the bill’s potential to pull providers into multi-employer agreements they hadn’t consented to “threatens to upend the traditional employer-worker relationship”.
However,childcare provider peak body,Early Childhood Australia,released a joint statement with the United Workers’ Union earlier this month saying the parties would continue to meet to explore multi-employer bargaining,and urged the government to take part in discussions.
A Department of Education,Skills and Employment spokesman said the supported stream for multi-employer bargaining included the power for the Fair Work Commission to direct a third-party “who exercises significant control over the terms and conditions of employees” to attend discussions.