Employee Consultation
07 November 2002

The only Australian federal legislation requiring employers to consult with employees and their unions about change was introduced by Labor in 1994. Under these laws an employer is required to consult with unions where the employment of more than 15 employees is to be terminated.

Provisions in federal awards requiring employers to consult with employees and unions about issues that are ‘likely to have a significant effect on employees’ were outlawed in the Coalition’s 1996 Workplace Relations Act amendments that limited awards to a number of specified ‘allowable matters’.

Award provisions for the establishment of workplace consultative committees were also eliminated.

Despite the pace and consistency of change in the modern workplace there is little or no obligation on employers to inform or consult with employees about matters that can have a major effect on their livelihoods.

Time after time we have seen large corporations relocate or close down with little consideration of the effects on employees.

There is something seriously wrong when the first an employee hears about losing their job is when it is announced on the radio as happened at Kinnear’s in Melbourne earlier this year.

Employees who often have most at stake when things change should not be the last to know.

Employees should have a right to be informed and consulted about things that impact on their livelihoods and their families.

Measures that should be taken to improve employee consultation include:

  • Current legislative barriers to employee consultation should be removed. The Workplace Relations Act should be amended to allow the AIRC to determine general standards in relation to consultation.

  • Legislation requiring employers to consult with employees about change should be strengthened. Workplaces should also maintain or establish appropriate mechanisms for consulting with employees.

  • Legislation should encourage and facilitate consultation between employers, employees and unions on matters potentially affecting employment.

More Information

  • ACTU News: Employee Consultation in an Australian Context - Australia is now decades behind most of Western Europe and even the United Kingdom, in its commitment to consultation and participation by workers in the enterprise, says ACTU Secretary Greg Combet. (10 April 2001)