The Albanese Government’s landmark Secure Jobs Better Pay workplace reforms have lifted economy-wide wage growth by about half a percent or $6.3 billion in the past year, due to the steady rise in collective bargaining coverage.
The ACTU’s submission to an Independent Review of the new laws says the reforms are making it easier for workers to negotiate together to win better pay rises, with the number of working Australians under collective bargaining agreements rising from 1.8 million to 2.2 million workers, in less than two years.
The ACTU analysis shows a 1 percentage point increase in collective bargaining coverage in Australia is associated with a 0.15 percentage point in annual wage growth. To date, coverage has lifted by 3.4 percentage points, equating to a 0.5 percentage point lift in economy-wide wages, totaling $6.3 billion.
This has helped annual wage growth to reach 3.7 percent on average since the change of government – almost double the average rate of 2.1 percent under previous Coalition Governments.
A worker covered by a collective agreement on an average wage of $77,000 is over $380 better off a year, due to the Secure Jobs Better Pay laws.
The benefits are likely to improve as the number of workers covered by collective agreements continues to grow. Prior to the introduction of the reforms in late 2022, about 270 employees each day were included in applications for new collective agreements. Today, that number has more than doubled to 650.
The Secure Jobs Better Pay Bill also set out to limit the use of fixed term contracts and has resulted in a 14.7 percent drop in fixed term contract use, with tens of thousands of workers moving to more permanent jobs.
The reforms targeted equal pay for men and women and led to wage increases in the highly feminised aged care and early childhood education and care sectors. More explicit rights to flexible work and an end to pay secrecy provisions are narrowing of the gender pay gap, closing three times faster than under the Coalition.
Employers are also accepting more requests for flexible work and Australian Unions in a wide range of industries report a positive shift among many employers willing to collectively bargain.
The ACTU’s submission to the Secure Jobs Better Pay review recommends technical changes to the laws to remove unintended loopholes for fixed term contracts as well as common sense ways to improve multi-employer bargaining, among others.
Peter Dutton and the Coalition voted against the Secure Jobs Better Pay Bill.
Quotes attributable to ACTU Secretary, Sally McManus:
“These reforms are now delivering real wage rises. A worker on the average wage is about $380 a year better off just because of these laws.
“For workers, this can be the difference between meeting household expenses or going backwards.
“Workers’ pay packets still have a long way to recover, but early signs are that the reforms are working and will only have a growing impact.
“Employer groups claimed these reforms would destroy jobs and lead to lower wages. This has not happened; those claims have proven to be baseless.
“The big business-backed Coalition is promising to unwind these workplace reforms if they win the election. It would mean these fair and reasonable wage increases would be taken away.
“It would also mean work would be less certain again for the nearly one-in-three Australian workers struggling in insecure work prior to these changes.
“Employers have been relying on fewer fixed term contracts and more permanent jobs in the current environment. A Dutton-led Government would tilt the playing field back in favour of big business by keeping wages low.”
