Media briefing
Factsheet
2
Individual contracts that cut
take-home pay and reduce employment conditions
Important changes coming from 1 July
2005
The Howard Government has said it will use its new
Senate powers to
take away many of your basic rights at work.
The Government wants to use individual
contracts to undercut your existing rights and conditions at work.
Currently 5 million
Australian workers and their families rely on awards or collective enterprise
agreements to protect their pay, conditions and living standards.
Unions believe that all
workers should have the right to choose not to sign an individual contract and
to bargain collectively with their workmates for wages and conditions - but the Howard Government wants to force more workers on to individual contracts.
The Howard Government
wants to change this by introducing workplace laws to force more workers on to
individual contracts.
The Government
introduced a new type of individual contract in 1996, called an Australian
Workplace Agreement (AWA).
AWAs (individual
contracts) were specifically designed to make it easier for employers to
undercut award and collective agreement conditions.
AWAs allow employers to
single out employees to force new working conditions on to them one at a time.
AWA individual
contracts are used to give employers more control over your working hours, to
reduce overtime pay, and to make more people casual.
The
Government’s new laws will allow employers to put workers onto individual
contracts that cut take-home pay and reduce employment conditions to only five
minimum standards:
- a minimum hourly rate of pay (currently $12.75)
- 8 days sick leave
- 4 weeks annual leave
- unpaid parental leave
- 38 hour week but no extra pay for overtime, long shifts or weekend work
Many workers
will lose conditions like weekend, shift and public holiday rates; overtime;
redundancy pay; allowances. Workers who refuse to
sign may fear being sacked.
More AWA individual
contracts will mean less family friendly working hours and lower standards of
living.