The Ai Group has filed a major submission in the award modernisation process which stresses that the priority needs to be jobs.
According to Ai Group’s Chief Executive Heather Ridout, the award modernisation process is a huge and ambitious agenda with a tight time frame.
“If we get it wrong it will have a major impact on wages and conditions which in turn could have a major impact on employment in a number of industries,” Ridout said.
“The Australian Industrial Relations Commission is to be commended on its consultative approach and the amount of analysis and drafting work which it has accomplished.
“Ai Group has taken the leading role in representing Australian employers in the process. We have devoted enormous resources to what is a massive and extremely complex task, submitting well over 1,000 pages of detailed submissions and award proposals to the Commission.
“While the process in a number of industries such as manufacturing is going quite well, we have expressed concerns in a number of other industries and industry sectors which are not progressing as well as would have been expected such as the information technology and construction sectors.
“In the drive to reduce the number of awards, Ai Group is worried that the Commission is considering treating IT workers as though they are electricians or manufacturing workers.
“Ai Group is also concerned at the lack of acceptance, to date, that the Contract Call Centre Industry is a unique industry, which is very different to the industries in which client firms operate such as banking, telecommunications and aviation, and one which employs tens of thousands of employees on inbound work (eg. giving advice) and outbound work (eg. telemarketing).”
Ai Group has argued that unless the Commission changes its preliminary views, the jobs of a very large number of employees are at risk, and Australia risks losing a growing industry which could evaporate overseas very rapidly.
“In the construction industry Ai Group is concerned about the ‘broad-brush’ approach which the Commission is proposing in recognising redundancy trust funds in modern awards.
“A redundancy fund should only be able to be used if the fund is run in the interests of both employees and employers, and is an established feature of the relevant industry sector. Otherwise the redundancy provisions of the National Employment Standards should apply.
“Ai Group will continue to press our concerns about these issues when we appear before the Commission next week,” Ridout said.
For more information go to http://www.aigroup.com.au/policy/submissions.