Australian Council of Trade Unions Submission to the Fair Work Commission
The ACTU welcomes and supports the Review Panel’s overall conclusions that, despite the limited time available for the review and certain data limitations, the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Act 2022 (SJBP Act) is achieving its intended purposes. The reforms are “operating appropriately and effectively and with minimal unintended consequences”. We particularly welcome the Panel’s findings in the Draft Report in respect of the early success of the reforms in achieving the Government’s goals of getting wages moving and tackling gender inequality.
On lifting wages, the Panel concluded that: “the early signs are positive: collective bargaining is increasing, especially the coverage of collective agreements, and wages (and other indicators [of] workers’ economic circumstances) have started to improve.” These outcomes were achieved through a 27% increase in the number of employees covered by a collective agreement between September 2022 and September 2024, consistent with the intention of the amendments. The Panel found that: “real wages gradually increased each quarter after the amendments from an annual low of −4.4% in the December quarter of 2022 until they exceeded price rises at the end of 2023. According to the latest data, real wages increased by 0.7% through the year to the September quarter 2024.”
On tackling gender inequality, the Panel concluded that: “The Secure Jobs, Better Pay Act represents a significant legislative development aimed at improving women’s position in the labour market. Early trends in the gender pay gap suggest positive outcomes, although it is recognised that the gap is just one measure of progress”. In particular, the amendments inserting gender equality as on object of the Fair Work Act 2009 (FW Act) “and the equal remuneration (work value) amendments have, on the balance of probabilities, significantly improved the wages for many award reliant workers.” A notable achievement which the ACTU has long campaigned for is the reduction in the Gender Wage Gap (GWG) since 2022, the Panel finding that: “the mean ‘adjusted’ GWG over the period 2008 to 2022 is equal to 10.8%. In 2023 it falls to 6.5%, with the change statistically significant at the 1% level.”
The ACTU also notes the problems raised by the Panel concerning the inadequacy and limitations of various forms of data – including that available from independent agencies – and the impacts of these data gaps on the Panel’s ability to conduct the review. Accordingly, we support Draft Recommendation 1, that the Australian Government should conduct a further review of the SJBP Act in 2-3 years, “once gaps in the data have been addressed and additional evidence is available”. We propose that the Panel should make a further recommendation to form
an inter-agency (DEWR, ABS, FWC, FWO) working group with stakeholder and academic members, to develop and implement the tools required to collect and publish the necessary data.
Part 2 of this submission contains the ACTU’s specific responses to the Panel’s proposed findings and recommendations in relevant chapters of the Draft Report.
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