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 Home News Industrial Relations
How much further will the liberals take WorkChoices?02 November 2007Many Australian beleive the Liberals will take WorkChoices further. Kevin Rudd and Labor will replace WorkChoice with a fairer system. View Labor's new ad. Kevin Rudd and Labor have promised to implement a new IR system that brings back fairness. Labor has promised to legislate 10 national employment standards which will apply to all Australian employees. Labor's new national employment standards will contain entitlements for all employees regardless of their industry or occupation. These new standards cannot be removed or replaced. Awards will also play an important part in Labor's safety net. A further 10 minimum employment standards will be included in awards which will be tailored to the needs of the industries, occupations or enterprises they cover. Labor's safety net will underpin Labor's collective bargaining system and common law arrangements which will allow employers and employees to create flexible and fair workplace arrangements which best suit their needs. Labor's 10 National Employment StandardsA Rudd Labor Government will guarantee the following minimum standards in law for all Australian employees: Hours of workUnder Labor, the standard working week for a full time employee will be 38 hours. Employees may be required to work additional hours, but cannot be required to work unreasonable additional hours.Parental leaveLabor recognises that many families want to have a parent provide all or most of the care for a child during the first two years of the child's life. A Rudd Labor Government will guarantee that both parents have the right to separate periods of up to 12 months of unpaid leave associated with the birth of a baby. Where families prefer one parent to take a longer period of leave, that parent will be entitled to request up to an additional 12 months of unpaid parental leave from their employer. The employer may only refuse the request for the additional 12 months' leave on reasonable business grounds. This will guarantee that Australian working families have the flexibility of up to 24 months' unpaid leave to provide care for their child.Flexible work for parentsA Rudd Labor Government will guarantee a right for parents to request flexible workarrangements until their child reaches school age. Employers will only be able to refuse any request on reasonable business grounds. Annual leaveAll full time non casual employees will be guaranteed 4 weeks' paid annual leave each year. Part time employees will be entitled to 4 weeks' annual leave paid pro rata. Shift workers will be entitled to an additional paid week of annual leave.Personal, Careres and Compassionate leaveAll full time non casual employees will be entitled to 10 days' paid personal and carers leave each year. Part time employees will be entitled to 10 days' personal leave paid prorata. These employees will also be entitled to 2 days' paid compassionate leave on the death or serious illness of a family member or a person the employee lives with. All employees will be entitled to an additional 2 days of unpaid personal leave where required for genuine caring purposes and family emergencies. Community service leaveEmployees will be entitled to leave for prescribed community service activities, forexample paid leave for jury service and reasonable unpaid leave for emergency services duties. Public holidaysLabor's industrial relations system will guarantee public holidays including Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day, Australia Day, Anzac Day, Queen's Birthday, Good Friday and Easter Monday. Public holidays prescribed in State law such as Labour Day, Easter Saturday, Easter Tuesday, and local public holidays like Cup Day, will also be recognised in those States in which they are prescribed. Where an employee works on a public holiday, they will be entitled to an appropriate penalty rate of pay or other compensation. This will be set out in the applicable award.Information in the workplaceEmployers must provide all new employees with a Fair Work Information Statement which contains prescribed information about the employee's rights and entitlements at work, including the right of the employee to choose whether to be or not to be a member of a union and where to go for information and assistance.Termination of Employment and RedundancyAll employees will be entitled to fair notice of termination in accordance with the following scale:Length of continuous service Minimum period of notice Less than 1 year At least 1 weeks More than 1 year but less than 3 years At least 2 weeks More than 3 years but less than 5 years At least 3 weeks More than 5 years At least 4 weeks Where an employee is over 45 years of age and has at least 2 years' continuous service, the employee will be entitled to one additional week of notice. Employees who are made redundant and who are employed in workplaces with 15 or more employees will also be entitled to redundancy pay as determined by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission in the 2004 Redundancy Test Case: Length of continuous service Redundancy pay Less than 1 year Nil 1 year and less than 2 years 4 weeks' pay 2 years and less than 3 years 6 weeks' pay 3 years and less than 4 years 7 weeks' pay 4 years and less than 5 years 8 weeks' pay 5 years and less than 6 years 10 weeks' pay 6 years and less than 7 years 11 weeks' pay 7 years and less than 8 years 13 weeks' pay 8 years and less than 9 years 14 weeks' pay 9 years and less than 10 years 16 weeks' pay 10 years and over 12 weeks' pay Long service leaveAs part of its commitment to national industrial relations laws, Labor will work with the States to develop nationally consistent long service leave entitlements. In the transitional period, Labor's guaranteed entitlement to long service leave will reflect the long service leave arrangements currently contained in State laws or federal awards and federal agreements. Under Labor, long service leave entitlements accrued under these arrangements will be protected in the transition to nationally consistent long service leave entitlements so Australian employees are not disadvantaged.Download File: |
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© 2003 Health Services Union (HSU) |
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