Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697632900761.pdf (Australia)
Brief: AHA-A Australian Thursday 27/11/2008 Page: 4 Section: General News Region: Australia Circulation: 140,000 Type: National Size: 152.12 sq.cms.
Published: MTWTF Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) licensed copy Ref: Ref: 44241057 Union flipsonsector pay dealsEwin HannanBrad NoringtonTHE Rudd Government has is-sued a blunt warning that its newworkplace laws will ban industry-wide wage deals, amid businessclaims it opens the way for patternbargaining by unions.Employers fearLabor's pro-posed bargaining laws for low-paid workers are an entree topatternbargaining,inwhichunions seek to impose a uniformpay deal across entire industries.Julia Gillard yesterday slappeddowntheunionrepresentingchildcare, aged care, and hotelworkers after its leader initiallysaid the union would use the newlaws to seek industry-wide paysettlements for those employees.Louise Tarrant, the nationalsecretary of the Liquor Hospitalityand Miscellaneous Union, said theFair Work bill would be a failure ifit did not deliver higher wages forlow-paid workers.Ms Tarrant said the bill "givesus the facility to try to get somesector-wide solutions".
"There isa very compelling logic as to whyyou want an industry-wide settle-ment (in industries such as child-care, cleaning, hotels, and secur-ity)," she told The Australian.But late yesterday Ms Tarrantretracted the comments, sayingshe had consulted union lawyerswho told her the bill would notenable industry-wide settlements.In a statement to The Austral-ian, Ms Gillard said: "The unionhas completely misunderstood thepolicy intent and the legal frame-work of the low-paid bargainingstream.
It certainly does not pro-vide for, and nor is it intended toprovide, the kind of whole-of-industry agreement-making thatis suggested.
"Ms Gillardsaiditwas themodern award thatprescribedcommon minimumconditionsacross an industry.The primary focus of the act isagreement-making at the enter-priselevel,asthishas beendemonstrated to deliver real wageincreases that are offset by pro-ductivity gains to the employer,tailoredtotheneedsof theparticular enterprise," she said.The policy behind the low-paid streamistoprovide anefficientmeans of helping tofacilitate bargaining for low-paidemployees and their employerswho have not yet received thebenefits of bargaining.
"Scott Barklamb, the AustralianChamber of Commerce and In-dustry's workplace policy director,saidthelow-paidbargainingstream "certainly looks like anentree to pattern bargaining".

"Pattern bargaining has a legalmeaning under the act," he said.We understand there are stillsome prohibitions there but if youtalk about it as a concept, as itmight be understood by the manon the street, there is certainly arisk thisis going to encouragepattern behaviour and strategies.
"Bill Healey, chief executive ofthe Australian Hotels Association,stepped up his attack on the billyesterday, claiming it marked areturn to centralised wage fixingand would "give everyone in theold IR club a free kick".Andrew Stewart, professor ofindustrial law at Adelaide Univer-sity, said unions would run intolegal trouble if they tried to co-ordinate strikes across a range ofworksites in support of claims.