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30 October 2014

Liberals link productivity to pay rises



Workers and management will be required to consider productivity improvements when bargaining for new enterprise agreements, while employees will have to meet a new test before they can take legal industrial action.

Employment Minister Eric Abetz yesterday said the government would introduce the changes into parliament before Christmas as part of its next tranche of amendments to the Fair Work Act. Under the proposals, the Fair Work Commission would have to be satisfied that workers and management had discussed productivity before an enterprise agreement was approved. However, they would not be ­required to reach agreement on improving productivity, and they could agree that there were no further improvements to be made.

The Coalition is also seeking to require the commission to be satisfied that bargaining claims are ­“realistic and sensible’’ before the tribunal can approve an application to take protected industrial action.

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