New Building Industry Code with labour implications
The new Building Industry Code 2013 came into operation on 1 February 2013, replacing the Federal Government's former Implementation Guidelines for the National Code of Practice for the Construction Industry. The Code gives the procurement guidelines legislative backing in an effort to provide greater certainty in the standards building industry participants need to demonstrate when tendering for Government work. Employers in the building industry should familiarise themselves with the Code, particularly the provisions about workplace bargaining, to ensure their compliance.
Union returns to de-unionised site
The Australian Workers Union (AWU) has secured the right to represent workers in the negotiation of a collective agreement for workers at Rio Tinto's Bell Bay Aluminum for the first time in two decades. Previously, the company had used individual contracts with higher pay in a bid to encourage workers to move away from union representation and the awards system. Recently, the Fair Work Commission declared that the majority of the company's workers were in favour of collective bargaining. The AWU has foreshadowed that it aims to use the collective bargaining negotiations to "lock in" workers' existing pay and conditions in the event Rio Tinto sells the subsidiary.
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