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01 October 2002
Even as a union member there are many different ways that you can be employed.
Employment Contracts
Even as a union member there are many different ways that you can be employed.
This is distinct from your employment status (eg casual, permanent or part time). It can also have a big impact on your rights and entitlements, such as the right to strike and the right to be represented by your union, the AWU. Make yourself aware in advance of the advantages and disadvantages of different types of employment contracts.
Awards
Look up your state award entitlements online
Agreements
There are two jurisdictions of agreements, state and federal. See our
agreement section for more discussion of the differences between these two types.
Advantages:
- For union shops, enterprise bargaining can result in significant improvement in wages and conditions
- It is still a collective agreement, meaning the whole shop negotiates together
- Workers can choose what issues are important to them
Disadvanatages:
- Non union industries and shops can end up with poor working conditions, particularly in the federal jurisdiction where non union agreements can be made
- Some agreements may disadvantage industrially weaker groups of workers
- In the federal jurisdiction workers can only take strike action in certain circumstances
- Industrially weaker shops may be left behind similarly skilled workers due to their geographic location or the size of the workforce
Australian Workplace Agreements
Another recent trend in industrial relations is to offer permanent workers 'fixed term contracts'. This is an unhealthy trend that is particularly common in rural and regional areas of NSW.
Fixed Term Contracts were commonplace for high paid professionals or managers whose rate of pay compensated the individual for the lack of job security. For CEO's and the like they often include substantial breakage penalties and benefits. For workers without the advanatage of being in demand, however, fixed term contracts offer few, if any advantages.
Advantages: Fixed term contracts would only be beneficial if a worker was in the advantageous bargaining position
Disadvantages:
- Exclude workers from unfair dismissal protection and make it easier for employers to terminate a worker at their discretion
- Cut continuity of service, and therefore exclude workers from long service leave entitlements
- Are individual contracts, which undermines the industrial strength of employees
- Removes any right to redundancy
- Often exclude workers from union representation
- Reduce job security
AWAs are individual agreements that were introduced by the Howard Federal Government in reforms of Federal Industrial Law. They are supposed to be administered and monitored by the Employment Advocate to ensure workers who sign an AWA are not disadvantaged. Unfortunately the research to date shows that workes who sign AWAs are significantly worse off. In fact, the most common use of AWAs is the extend working hours of employees and to de-unionise sites. Often employers try to force employees to sign AWAs by making it a condition of employment. This practice, whilst common place, is illegal.
Advantages: There are NONE. For Australian Workers AWAs are merely a method of eroding workers rights and shifting the balance of power in favour of the employer.
Disadvantages:
- A worker loses the right to strike with the rest of his or her workmates
- AWAs are used primarily to extended working hours without remuneration
- AWAs often exclude union members from being represented by their union, even though we can act as your bargaining agent
- Workers can be dismissed once an AWA expires
- Often workers sign away rights they did not even know they had
- AWAs undermine collectivism and therefore weaken the industrial strength of Australian Workers.
Fixed Term Contracts
Awards, federal or state, apply to all workers in an industry. They set a minumum set of employment conditions that an employer must comply with.
Advantages:
- Award conditions apply to all workers in an industry
- There are no limits to when you can strike
- They must contain certain provisions, such as redundancy provisions, and personal carer's leave entitlements
- They set a minimum standard for enterprise bargaining (no enterprise agreement can provide a disadvantage to employees when compared with the award)
- They cannot be altered by the employer unilaterally
- They are adjusted each year by your union in either the National or State Wage Cases
Disadvantages:
- Pay rates are often much lower for award employees as opposed to those covered by enterprise agreements
- More employees are being excluded from award coverage when they sign other employment contracts, such as AWAs.
- More employees are being excluded from award coverage by the manipulation of their employment status
All electoral matter is authorised by Russ Collison, Branch Secretary