This includes errors concerning the requirements relating to the Notice of Employee Representational Rights. The Explanatory Memorandum to the legislation explains that the measure promotes collective bargaining because it enables the FWC to approve enterprise agreements that it would previously...
We have written previously about how sick the current enterprise bargaining system is in Australia. In our experience, the current enterprise agreement approval process is the slowest it has ever been. There are a number of reasons why this may be the case – the introduction of a ‘triage’ team who...
Recent political and even Reserve Bank commentary remarks upon how wages growth has stalled, although the causes attributed to it vary. What is clear is that low wages growth is not limited to the Australian economy, but is a feature of many advanced economies, including the US. Recently, Judith...
Recent decisions of the FWC reveal an ongoing conflict of approaches to approving enterprise agreements under the ‘Better-Off-Overall-Test’, or BOOT. Overturning of Beechworth Bakery EBA A FWC full bench has quashed Deputy President Sams’ decision of late last year to approve the ‘ Beechworth...
Uncertainty surrounding the approval process of enterprise agreements continues to deepen, with the surprise resignation of Fair Work Commission Vice President Graeme Watson in recent weeks highlighting the tension within the Commission (FWC) itself. Recent FWC decisions we have reported on (in...
Since the Coles Supermarkets decision , there has been considerable uncertainty as to what the FWC will accept as meeting the Better-Off-Overall Test, colloquially knows as the ‘BOOT’, for enterprise agreements similar to the Coles version, that attempt to provide loaded rates in return for buying...
In July 2015 the COLES STORE TEAM ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT was lodged with the FWC for approval, which was duly granted by Commissioner Geoff Bull after some discussion and undertakings were provided by Coles. Many agreements have taken the same path, however it has not been smooth sailing for Coles...
As part of our 2-day Enterprise Bargaining Strategy and Tactics Masterclasses, and as the central part of our In-House Intensives, we analyse our clients' internal and external bargaining environment to arrive at key recommendations for their next EBA negotiations. Surprisingly, or perhaps...
Early in my consulting career, I learned 2 valuable lessons from my involvement in a particular EBA negotiation - 1. Opposition tactics can get very dirty and you need to separate personalities - including yourself - from those tactics. 2. Some clients have a personal makeup that "demands" they...
