Accident Make-up Pay provisions in awards covering Victorian workers

With an official review of the The Accident Compensation Act 1985  underway, the review Secretariat of WorkSafe Victoria commissioned WRC to provide data to assist in the identification, development and refinement of issues that could be addressed in the review.  Part of the government’s aim was to provide some scope to examine the benefits available to injured workers, while recognising the need to protect the long-term financial viability of the scheme. The WRC study closely examined the provision of ‘make-up’ of workers compensation for Victorian employees covered by awards.  The study explored all arrangements and payments associated with ‘make-up’ pay, using a selection of ‘key awards’.   The study found that make up pay was available in all but 1 award, with the most common period of payment being 39 weeks, mostly paid at the base award rate (with a significant number providing the over-award rate).  Employer superannuation contributions were guaranteed in over half the awards, with most stipulating that the contributions would continue for the entire period that an employee is on make-up pay.

Industrial agreements and economic renewal: Where next for the Australian Automotive Industry? A commentary and analysis of the industry’s enterprise agreements

This paper analyses the potential for industrial agreements to help with the renewal of the Australian automotive industry and looked at Enterprise Bargaining Agreements from the Australian automotive sector (both assemblers and components suppliers) that were registered since the WRC's last study in 2002.  The task was to assess their content and determine whether the agreements are ‘unique’, part of a ‘pattern’ or rather represent a blend of both being in the form of ‘a variation around themes’.  As the later scenario prevailed in the data, the paper then commented on how the nature of ‘coordinated flexibility’ identified in the last study of agreements evolved over the last half decade.  The study also drew on the wider lessons from this experience for the potential benefits of a ‘coordinated approach’ to flexibility in future rounds of wage bargaining.

Below is a list the projects WRC researchers have completed in the last year.

More detail about each project will be added to the website soon. For projects completed before 2007 please see “Archived Projects”.

• Lowering the Standards: From Awards to Work Choices in Retail and Hospitality Collective Agreements (Qld, NSW, Vic Governments)
• Survey of Workload and Working Conditions in Victorian Nursing (ANF Victoria)
• A Private Dispute Resolution System for Transport and logistics - Options Paper (TALC)
• Survey of NSW Emergency Physicians and Registrars (ASMOF)
• A Safety Net for Victoria: Award Standards for the Unincorporated Workforce (IR Victoria)
• Workplace Industrial Relations Survey in Queensland, NSW and Victoria (Qld, NSW, Vic Governments)
• Academic Workload Management Practices in the Faculty of Economics and Business (University of Sydney)
• The Queensland Civil Infrastructure Industry – measuring the scale and nature of the current workforce (CTQ)
• From labour to work: Evaluation and options for Victoria’s Prison Industries (Corrections Victoria)
• Developing a standard for excessive hours in Theatre, Film and Television (MEAA)
• Security Guards and Fatigue (CRUSE)