Decades-old workplace agreements will be the target of a senate investigation into workers’ pay and conditions which will sit in Ballarat early next year.
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Australian Workplace Agreements introduced in 2006 and 2007 have nominally expired but are still operating in Ballarat, Trades Hall Council secretary Brett Edgington said.
Mr Edgington is aware of at least four still in operation, many of which preclude employees from loading and penalty rates in exchange for a marginally higher hourly rate, but had “no idea” of the true numbers.
The inquiry will seek a full list of all companies still operating under AWAs, also known as “zombie agreements” because “they just won’t die”, Mr Edgington said.
So far Fair Work Australia has refused to make that information public, he said.
“The reason they’re damaging is they’re frozen in time, it’s part of the industrial law that's slipped through the cracks.
“They can’t be terminated except by a party to the agreement, that can be a very difficult thing to do and often they’re (employees) concerned that they will lose their job as a result.”
Committee chair Labor Senator Gavin Marshall has previously said there was “abundant” evidence of employers evading or avoiding their obligations under the Fair Work Act.
Identifying existing AWAs, why they were still in place, and whether they were operating with the “genuine consent” of both parties, Senator Marshall said.
An AWA can only be terminated by one of the two parties involved, and only by a current employee.
The inquiry will also target the so-called “black economy” where workers are paid cash in hand, sometimes at less than half the minimum wage, labour hire, deceptive bargaining, and unfair dismissal across regional and metropolitan Australia.
The inquiry findings will be tabled by August 2017.
Submissions can be made to the Senate Education and Employment Committees secretary via email at eec.sen@aph.gov.au or by calling 02 6277 3521.
Submissions close on November 25.