The Government has today released itsdiscussion paper ‘ Designinga Fair Pay Agreements System‘ providing detail of what proposed law forFair Pay Agreements (FPAs) could include.
CTU President Richard Wagstaff comments,”We are pleased to see that the Government is clearly committed toimproving the lives of working people with progress towards introducing FairPay Agreements. There are good things in this Discussion Paper, but there arecertainly areas which need further work to be ironed out. Addressing theseissues will be the focus for working people and their unions over the next sixweeks during the consultation process.”
“The CTU releasedour own paper detailing what fair FPAs need to include earlier this week.We will of course be measuring what the Government has proposed against that.Fair Pay Agreements must be fair for working people. “
“At first glance we know that there areissues which need to addressed. There are issues around initiation, marketimpact testing, representation of working people.”
“We are pleased to see the confirmation ofsome of the Working Groups recommendations – the coverage of contractors, 10%of employees in an industry or sector supporting FPAs. We are also pleased tosee further work on the practical application of the Working Grouprecommendations in principle like the acceptance of a simple majority of votersin order to ratify.”
“The discussion paper recognises thatwages need to be lifted and economic system is failing workers at the momentand that FPAs will help fix this, particularly for low and middle incomeworking people,” Wagstaff said.
