ACTU secretary Sally McManus has outlined a range of proposed workplace reform measures in a four-page letter to Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter. Amongst other things, McManus has called for action to combat wage theft, an overhaul of the annual minimum wage review, the winding back of penalty rate cuts and allowing unions to undertake sector-wide enterprise bargaining. Porter has indicated that the government will shortly release discussion papers on issues such as wage underpayments. The Australian:
“Ending the low-wage crisis requires reform in critical areas including changing the annual minimum wage review to put a greater emphasis on the needs of the low-paid,’’ she said…
As well as reversing penalty rate cuts, Ms McManus said the government should change the bargaining rules to encourage agreement-making between parties at an industry or sector level alongside enterprise bargaining.
