Legal
Issue No. 21 - February/March 2005
Industrial Law Reform Bill
Back seat drivers
by Michael Hegarty
What would you do if you came to work one morning and found a complete stranger sitting at your desk? Unless you'd asked them to come in and fix your computer, you'd show them the door and tell them to tick off!
If you run a business, you're the one in charge. But an Industrial Relations Bill currently before Parliament could mean that strangers can interfere with the business arrangements you make.
Way back in October 2002, the State Government received a report entitled Review of the South Australian Industrial Relations System. On 13 November 2002, the Hon Michael Wright stated: "The challenge for this government will be to put into place practical industrial relations law reforms that best balance the rights between employers and employees.”
The resulting draft was referred to as the Industrial Law Reform (Fair Work) Bill. This Bill has been subject to significant criticism from various quarters, not the least from Business SA and the Commonwealth Government. As a result, the government has made major changes to the Bill.
On 25 November 2004, the House of Assembly passed the Bill as the Industrial Law Reform (Enterprise and Economic Development - Labour Market Relations) Bill 2004, a document which is to become the Industrial and Employee Relations Act.
The Bill is intended to go further than merely addressing industrial and employee relations. It does not just apply to the rights of parties in existing employer and employee relationships and set out ways to resolve disputes between them. It also sets out "to meet the needs of emerging labour markets and work patterns while advancing existing community standards."
The government asserts that the Bill contains major initiatives including:
- Changing the objects of the Industrial and Employee Relations Act;
- Giving the Court power to make declaratory judgements about whether workers are employees or contractors;
- Changing minim...
