Contrary to federal government rhetoric, research conducted into the new Labor government's Forward with Fairness transitional bill has revealed that Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs — individual contracts), or their replacement clones, the Interim Transitional Employment Agreements (ITEAs), could continue well beyond 2010.
The Workplace Relations Amendment (Transition to Forward with Fairness) Bill was introduced into parliament on February 13. While the bill prevents the creation of new AWAs, it allows employers using AWAs as at December 1 to offer ITEAs to new employees and employees already on AWAs.
Andrew Stewart, law professor and workplace law expert at the University of Adelaide told The Age newspaper on March 4 that under the new legislation AWAs and ITEAs could go beyond their nominal expiry date and continue indefinitely, but that the terms of contract could not be varied once the laws took effect. According to Stewart an agreement can be terminated by either worker or boss after the expiry date, however many employees might stay on a bad contract due to lack of information about their rights.