Will pay be better and jobs more secure? Analysing the Albanese government’s first round of fair work reforms

Abstract

The Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Act 2022 (Cth) may be just the first in a series of major reforms to the Fair Work system from the Labor Government elected in 2022. But its content says much about the priorities of what is shaping as an activist administration. Without traversing everything in the nearly 300 pages of amendments, we focus on important reforms concerning the equity and transparency of pay arrangements, the use of fixed or contingent term contracts, requests for flexibility in work arrangements, multi-employer bargaining, the processes for approving or terminating enterprise agreements, protected industrial action, and the resolution of bargaining disputes. Despite the Act’s title, it has relatively little to say about job security, with many major reforms in that area still to come. It also remains to be seen how effective the amendments will be in addressing wage stagnation, even if they prompt a resurgence in collective agreement-making. But if there is one strong theme that links many of the reforms, it is that of making workplaces fairer and safer for women. The foregrounding of concerns around gender equality is striking, especially in legislation of this size and scope.