Australian workplace agreements (AWAs) are employment contracts made between employers and individual employees. They were introduced in 1996 as part of a broader industrial relations reform package in Australia.
AWAs were designed to provide flexibility for both employers and employees in setting conditions of employment. This meant that they could negotiate different conditions of employment than those contained in awards, which are minimum standards of pay and conditions set by the government for specific industries or occupations.
Under an AWA, employers and employees can negotiate a range of conditions, including:
– Wages and salary
– Hours of work
– Overtime rates
– Leave entitlements
– Superannuation contributions
– Performance targets and bonuses
– Redundancy pay
– Termination conditions.
AWAs are typically used by employers who want to offer more flexible or tailored conditions of employment to individual employees than those provided by awards. They are most commonly used in the private sector, particularly in industries such as hospitality, retail, and manufacturing.
However, AWAs have been controversial in Australia. Critics argue that they can lead to workers being paid less than they would be under an award, as well as having fewer protections for things like unfair dismissal. In response, the Australian government introduced a Fairness Test in 2007, which required AWAs to meet certain minimum conditions to be valid.
In 2009, the Labor government abolished AWAs and replaced them with Individual Transitional Employment Agreements (ITEAs), which had more stringent requirements for fairness than AWAs. In 2010, the Labor government introduced the National Employment Standards (NES), which set minimum conditions of employment for all employees, regardless of whether they were covered by awards or individual agreements.
Overall, while AWAs are no longer in use in Australia, they remain an important part of the country`s industrial relations history. They were introduced as a way of providing greater flexibility for employers and employees in setting conditions of employment, but raised concerns about fairness and worker protection. Today, the NES provides minimum protections for all employees, while enterprise agreements provide a way for employers and employees to negotiate more tailored conditions of employment.