The Closing Loopholes Bill introduced to Parliament yesterday will see the Australian Government set minimum pay for transport operators which is expected to ensure a safer, more sustainable and viable industry.
The Fair Work Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 (Closing Loopholes Bill) will authorise an ‘Expert Panel’ for the road transport industry to improve job security and to set fair minimum standards, including fair payment times and hear cases of unfair terminations of contracts.
According to Parliament, it will amend the Fair Work Act 2009 and related legislation to improve the workplace relations framework in several areas.
With the Bill in place, the existing definition of ‘casual employee’ would be replaced with a fair and objective definition, by introducing a new employee choice pathway for eligible employees to change to permanent employment if they wish to do so.
It would also address the consequences of the small business redundancy exemption in insolvency contexts, by providing an exception to its operation when a larger business downsizes to become a smaller business employer due to insolvency.
Australian Road Transport Industrial Organisation (ARTIO) National Secretary and Victorian Transport Association (VTA) CEO, Peter Anderson, told Trailer the Closing Loopholes Bill will greatly benefit the industry.
“From an employer perspective this legislation, when passed, will unlock our industry’s great potential and truly professionalise how it operates,” he said.
“Having Minimum Standards in place ensures equality of competition and greater efficiency of the road transport industry amid increasing demands on current processes and operations.
“By establishing and maintaining enforceable standards through this legislation, the road transport industry in Australia aims to ensure the well-being of its workers, promote fairness, and safeguard its critical role in Australia’s economic landscape.”
The Closing Loopholes Bill will protect bargained wages in enterprise agreements from being undercut by the use of labour hire workers who are paid less than those minimum rates.
In addition, it will make targeted amendments to the bargaining framework by:
Enabling multiple franchisees to access the single-enterprise stream;
allowing supported bargaining and single interest employer agreements to be replaced by single-enterprise agreements at any time if certain conditions are met; and
authorising the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to make and vary enterprise agreement model terms for flexibility, consultation and dispute resolution in place of the existing provisions according to which these terms are made by regulation.
Commenting on the Fair Work Legislation Amendment, Australian Trucking Association (ATA) Chair, David Smith, said the Bill will deliver fairer contracts for all transport businesses.
“The commission’s potential power to make contractual chain orders could enable it to stamp out unfair contract terms including excessively long payment times, unfair rate review and fuel levy clauses, and one-way terminations for convenience,” he said.
“The bill would also allow the commission to hear unfair contract and termination cases from owner drivers and other small road transport contractors.
“The minister would be able to make a Road Transport Industry Termination Code to guide businesses. The commission’s powers to resolve unfair contract disputes would be subject to a high income threshold.”
The Bill and future regulations, according to Smith, would enable the Fair Work Commission to issue two new orders – road transport minimum standards would apply to owner drivers and similar small transport businesses, and road transport industry contractual chain orders could apply to the whole contract chain.
“Under this bill, the commission would be required to avoid unreasonable adverse impacts on sustainable competition and compliance costs,” he said.
“The commission would also be required to have regard to the commercial realities of the road transport industry and that owner drivers have chosen to be contractors not employees.
“One of the ATA’s objectives in our discussions with the Government was to avoid a repeat of the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal’s decision to set minimum rates for owner drivers that were too high for the industry to pay.
“The result was that prime contractors and industry customers chose to move their freight in other ways.”
Following the announcement, the Transport Workers Union (TWU) National Secretary, Michael Kaine, classed it as a ‘lifesaving transport reform’.
“The tabling of lifesaving transport reform in Federal Parliament is a significant moment for our industry,” he said.
“It brings hope that the days of deadly and unsustainable commercial pressures are numbered.”
The tabling of legislation to enable the Fair Work Commission to set enforceable standards in transport, according to TWU, is a crucial step towards saving lives and businesses across the industry.
“In February, Scott’s Refrigerated Logistics – Australia’s largest cold chain operator – collapsed after making a $31 million loss on half a billion in revenue,” it said in a statement online.
“The collapse saw 1,500 workers lose their jobs and dozens of subcontractors owed hundreds of millions of dollars each.”
The full Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023 is available online here.
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