Workers and their union representatives would be allowed to negotiate deals on pay and conditions with multiple employers at once and sometimes across entire sectors, under proposals the trade union movement will take to the Albanese government's upcoming jobs summit.
The leader of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Sally McManus unveiled the main ask the unions will make on industrial relations in an interview with 7.30 on Wednesday evening.
Ms McManus said the enterprise bargaining system, where unions and employers negotiate individual deals beyond the baseline of industry-wide awards, had "collapsed".
While individual EBAs would still exist, unionists are seeking new rules that would open up the option of broader deals.
"The way we see it working is that where it makes sense to have multi-employer bargaining, both the workers' representatives and the employers sit down and negotiate across their sector. That's the way it should work," she said.
Asked by 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson why the ACTU thought workers wanted the change given significant declines in union membership over the past few decades, Ms McManus said it would be "up to them" on when to attempt multi-employer bargains.
"No one's going to force them," she said.
But Ms McManus said reforms to bargaining were key to wages growth.
She said she had "no faith" in wages picking up from their decade of sluggish growth without the changes.
"What is the answer to pay rises if we do not fix the bargaining system?" Ms McManus said.
"If we do not give workers the abilities to be able to win pay rises, we're not going to turn around this terrible situation we're in. And we shouldn't underestimate how bad it is."
Minimum pay for skilled migrants
The ACTU will also take a proposal for a minimum annual salary of $91,000 for skilled migrant workers to the summit, designed to ensure the role of new migrants in the labour market was tightly targeted at genuine skill shortages.
"We're talking about skilled workers and the areas that we really need them. If we're talking about that, I think it's fair," she said.
Pressed on whether the proposal was an ambit claim and whether the ACTU might agree to a lower minimum wage for skilled visa workers at the summit, Ms McManus said: "That's our claim. We're putting it."
"Of course, we're willing to discuss all things like this at the summit," she said.
"In the end we have to have a system that makes sure that we are skilling up our own people and we're not just substituting it with visa workers, and we don't allow visa workers to be exploited."
