Fair Work Bill: Summary Continued - Page 6

A form of greenfields agreement is also available under the new legislation – that is, single or multi-enterprise agreements relating to a new enterprise. Also, a facilitated bargaining process will exist for the low-paid.

As part of the agreement-making process under the Fair Work Bill the employer is obliged to take all reasonable steps to give notice to employees who are to be covered by the proposed agreement that they have a right to be represented by a bargaining representative. Employee organisations may be bargaining representatives if a relevant employee is a member of the organisation and the organisation is entitled to represent the industrial interests of the employee in relation to the work.

An agreement is made when a majority of employees vote for it and it must then be subject to an approval process by the new industrial entity, Fair Work Australia. In order to be approved, the agreement must pass a Better Off Overall Test (BOOT). The BOOT requires FWA to be satisfied that each relevant employee would be better off overall under the agreement than if a relevant modern award applied.

Good Faith Bargaining

Parties negotiating an agreement will be subject to a good faith bargaining requirement that will involve participating in meetings with bargaining representatives, disclosing relevant information, responding to proposals from other bargaining representatives in good time and refraining from conduct that undermines freedom of association or collective bargaining. As such, if a majority of employees at a particular enterprise wish to collectively bargain, the employer will be required to do so.

Continued - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - Archive Index