Assessing the impact of employment regulation on the low-paid in Victoria

Since 1993 and the removal of the separate award system for the Australian State of Victoria, many Victorian workers have been on five minimum conditions and on pay levels well below that of employees in other States. Despite attempts to rectify the situation (with Victorian common rule awards), iss...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Cockfield, S., Buttigieg, D., Jerrard, M., Rainnie, Alistair
Format: Journal Article
Published: CAER and IRRC 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/49553
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author Cockfield, S.
Buttigieg, D.
Jerrard, M.
Rainnie, Alistair
author_facet Cockfield, S.
Buttigieg, D.
Jerrard, M.
Rainnie, Alistair
author_sort Cockfield, S.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Since 1993 and the removal of the separate award system for the Australian State of Victoria, many Victorian workers have been on five minimum conditions and on pay levels well below that of employees in other States. Despite attempts to rectify the situation (with Victorian common rule awards), issues of coverage and employer compliance remained. The implementation of WorkChoices legislation in 2006 posed a further challenge to Victorian low-paid workers. Our research found that the impact of WorkChoices on the Victorian low-paid has been largely insidious, surfacing primarily as an increased wage-effort ratio, with people working more unpaid hours and at an increased pace. The implications of this are that these hidden effects are more likely to linger, even with the replacement of WorkChoices with the Fair Work Act, 2009. Furthermore, it appears that employer compliance with minimum conditions requires more adequate enforcement by the Federal Government.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-495532017-03-15T22:56:20Z Assessing the impact of employment regulation on the low-paid in Victoria Cockfield, S. Buttigieg, D. Jerrard, M. Rainnie, Alistair low-paid workers workers’ rights working conditions Labour market regulation Since 1993 and the removal of the separate award system for the Australian State of Victoria, many Victorian workers have been on five minimum conditions and on pay levels well below that of employees in other States. Despite attempts to rectify the situation (with Victorian common rule awards), issues of coverage and employer compliance remained. The implementation of WorkChoices legislation in 2006 posed a further challenge to Victorian low-paid workers. Our research found that the impact of WorkChoices on the Victorian low-paid has been largely insidious, surfacing primarily as an increased wage-effort ratio, with people working more unpaid hours and at an increased pace. The implications of this are that these hidden effects are more likely to linger, even with the replacement of WorkChoices with the Fair Work Act, 2009. Furthermore, it appears that employer compliance with minimum conditions requires more adequate enforcement by the Federal Government. 2011 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/49553 CAER and IRRC restricted
spellingShingle low-paid workers
workers’ rights
working conditions
Labour market regulation
Cockfield, S.
Buttigieg, D.
Jerrard, M.
Rainnie, Alistair
Assessing the impact of employment regulation on the low-paid in Victoria
title Assessing the impact of employment regulation on the low-paid in Victoria
title_full Assessing the impact of employment regulation on the low-paid in Victoria
title_fullStr Assessing the impact of employment regulation on the low-paid in Victoria
title_full_unstemmed Assessing the impact of employment regulation on the low-paid in Victoria
title_short Assessing the impact of employment regulation on the low-paid in Victoria
title_sort assessing the impact of employment regulation on the low-paid in victoria
topic low-paid workers
workers’ rights
working conditions
Labour market regulation
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/49553