The Secure Jobs, Better Pay Act 2022 (the Act), contains three streams of multi-employer bargaining:
- the cooperative stream, where employers opt-in to bigger pay deals;
- the supported stream, for low-paid sectors; and
- the single-interest stream.
The “single-interest stream” would allow the Fair Work Commission to authorise workers with sufficient “common interests” to bargain together, where it is in the public interest for them to do so.
The commission will consider common interests like geographical location, whether the businesses have the same regulatory regime, the nature of the businesses and their terms and conditions of work. The single interest stream requires the majority of employees at each employer to agree to take part in a multi-employer pay deal.
Small business exemption
However, to reduce potential pressure on small businesses, such as cafes, independent stores and other local enterprises, ‘small businesses’ will be exempt from the single-interest stream.
- The definition of ‘small business’ is a business with fewer than 20 employees.
- The exemption means that a small business cannot be included in an application without their consent.
It is intended that small businesses will instead access the Cooperative Workplaces Bargaining Stream.
The Cooperative Workplaces Bargaining Stream will allow businesses to voluntarily opt in to be covered by one industrial instrument instead of multiple awards.
The rationale is that small business has previously found bargaining difficult at the single enterprise level due to the resources required to bargain, which larger businesses have ready access to.
Having an opportunity to bargain across multiple employers will reduce the resources necessary to bargain for these businesses.
The benefit to employers may increase where employers voluntarily opt into agreements that are already made, as they receive the benefits of the enterprise bargaining without the cost of bargaining. It is noted however, that such employers will not have had the opportunity to influence bargaining.
For more information please contact our Workplace and Employment team at HopgoodGanim Lawyers.