Employers ‘rushing’ to terminate enterprise agreements, Australian unions say

Unions are bracing for a flood of employers to follow the lead set by airline Qantas and stevedore Patrick Terminals by trying to rip up enterprise agreements with staff before the federal election.

Labor, which has been performing strongly in recent polling, has promised to stop employers from unilaterally terminating agreements if it wins the election which is due to be held on or before 21 May.

Enterprise agreements, struck between employers and their staff, provide conditions that leave workers better off overall than the underlying award conditions governing their industry. The employment conditions they set down continue in force until a new agreement is struck or they are terminated by the Fair Work Commission.

Applications to terminate enterprise agreements were relatively rare until a landmark decision in 2015 in which rail company Aurizon convinced the FWC to tear up a dozen agreements it had previously struck with unions.

Following Aurizon's victory, terminations skyrocketed, according to FWC reports and research by the Australia Institute.

Terminations reached a peak of 508 in 2017-18 and have since fallen back but remain above pre-Aurizon levels of around 200 a year or less, with 330 applications to terminate lodged with the FWC in the 2020-21 year.

"It looks to us like companies are seeing this moment as their best chance to cut workers' wages and conditions, while Scott Morrison is in power," the president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Michele O'Neil, said.