Labor’s Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill passed in the Senate late last night, updating and modernising Australia’s outdated industrial relations laws in a move that will finally allow workers to see their wages and conditions improve after a decade of stagnation.
The sweeping changes will allow more flexibility at work, better job security, and advances in gender pay equality, as well as allowing more workers to bargain for fair wages and conditions under multi-employer bargaining.
The bill also abolishes anti-Union watchdogs the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) and the Registered Organisations Commission (ROC).
Though the bill misses key needs, like the regulation of casual work and the gig economy, further reforms are expected to be introduced into parliament next year.
The passing of these laws is another achievement of the ‘Secure Jobs Worth Fighting For’ Campaign led by Hunter Workers and Australian Unions that saw the sacking of Scott Morrison and the Election of the Albanese Labor Government.
Leigh Shears, Hunter Workers Secretary:
“This year the Australian public voted for better wages, and the Albanese government accordingly delivered.
"There is finally a light at the end of the tunnel after a long decade of active wage suppression by the Coalition government.
"This bill makes much needed advances that recognises essential workers deserve better.
"Our industrial relations laws still make it onerously difficult to pursue enterprise agreements and to undertake industrial action, and more changes are urgently needed to tackle the worsening crisis of job insecurity.”