In the review, unions had called for strengthening the rights of part-time workers, who are mostly women, to have adequate, stable and predictable hours, to help them balance work and care and ensure they can earn enough to make ends meet.
The case on part-time work will start in 2025, and establish a standard model for part-time employment to be rolled out across all awards.
The review was initiated in response to the Albanese Government introducing new objectives in the Fair Work Act on job security and gender equality, which the Dutton opposition opposed at the time.
Awards directly set the terms and conditions for nearly one in four workers, and underpin all content in enterprise agreements, covering an additional one in three workers.
The review examined modern awards relating to four key areas: Arts and Culture, Job Security, Work and Care, and “Ease of use.”
The Commission will also commence bringing work-from-home arrangements into the Clerks Award, which covers admin workers among others, in what will be a test case.
The review also recommended improving the Amusement and Live Performance Awards to better cover “Arts Workers”, and to fix awards in higher education to better reflect new limitations on the use of fixed-term contracts.
The Commission will also conduct research into the gendered nature of span-of-hours provisions in awards and undertake a research project on the history of gender undervaluation in the Cabin Crew Award, as requested by the Flight Attendants’ Association of Australia (FAAA).
Quotes attributable to ACTU President Michele O’Neil:
“Unions welcome the Fair Work Commission’s report recognising that Australian workers on awards deserve better. The cases emerging from this process can pave the way for improved conditions for part-time workers, people who work from home, those on fixed-term contracts and arts workers.
“Unions want to see roster justice so that working Australians juggling work and family life have a fairer system of hours, rosters and shifts. There is a clear need for better rights so workers can have secure and reliable rosters that accommodate caring responsibilities.
“Working women in particular want to see the steps taken to address gender inequity within the award system. This is only possible because the Albanese Government introduced new objectives in the Fair Work Act, which Peter Dutton and the Liberals opposed.”
