The Minister for Workplace Relations Bill Shorten has released Trends in Enterprise Bargaining Report for the June quarter 2012 which shows that more than 20,500 enterprise agreements covering 2.62 million employees have been made since the agreement making provisions of the Fair Work Act began on 1 July 2009.

 

In the June quarter this year, almost 2200 Fair Work Act enterprise agreements were made covering an estimated 257,200 employees.  

 

Industries where strong growth in agreement-making has occurred under the Fair Work Act include:

  • Accommodation and Food Services, where the number of employees covered by agreements has increased by 100 per cent since 30 June 2009.
  • Financial and Insurance Services, where the number of employees covered by agreements has increased by 188 per cent since 30 June 2009.

 

The report also shows the average annualised wage increase for agreements approved in the June quarter 2012 stands at 3.7 per cent, down from t 4.4 per cent for the previous quarter.

 

Wages growth by industry in the quarter varied, for example 3.3 per cent for Information, Media and Telecommunications, 3.9 per cent in Manufacturing and 4.2 per cent in Education.

 

Enterprise agreements made under the Fair Work system also continue to include a range of provisions to improve productivity in the workplace.

 

As at 30 June 2012, more than 48 per cent of agreements discuss a commitment to improve productivity.

 

Almost 95 per cent of agreements provide for the flexible engagement of employees, and more than 72 per cent provide flexibility in hours of work.

 

The June 2012 quarter Trends report is available at: http://www.deewr.gov.au/WorkplaceRelations/Pages/Reports.aspx