The Albanese government's Job and Skills Summit was held last month with the aim of deliver secure jobs with growing wages, boost incomes and living standards and create more opportunities for more Australians.
You can see a full summary of the Summit's Outcomes here. Some of the key outcomes designed to boost job security and wages include commitments to update the Fair Work Act to create a simple, flexible and fair new framework that ensures all workers and businesses can negotiate in good faith for agreements that benefit them.
Key elements of those changes are:
- Include gender pay equity and job security in the objects of the Fair Work Act and legislate a statutory equal remuneration principle to improve the way pay equity claims can be advanced under the Fair Work Act
- Legislate same job, same pay
- Establish two new expert panels in the Fair Work Commission for pay equity and the care and community sector
- Prohibit pay secrecy clauses, and give employees a right to disclose their remuneration if they wish
- Set an objective test in legislation for determining when a worker is casual
- Extend the powers of the Fair Work Commission to include “employee-like” forms of work, allowing it to make orders for minimum standards for new forms of work, such as gig work
- Limit the use of fixed-term contracts
These changes are very positive and will improve job security and wages for hundreds of thousands of workers.
