Awards are industrial instruments that provide workers with minimum protections. Awards continue to be an important tool for providing minimum entitlements and conditions such as sick leave, long service leave etc.
Since the election of the Rudd Labor Government, there have been many changes to the industrial relations system and the industrial instruments that operate within it (including Awards and Agreements). There are now a number of different types of awards, and they can include different conditions.
The different awards in the national system are:
- pre-reform awards—federal awards created before the Work Choices legislation came into operation (on 27 March 2006), covering employers that are the Commonwealth, constitutional corporations or carrying on an activity in a territory in Australia;
- transitional awards—federal awards created before the Work Choices legislation came into operation, covering employers that are not the Commonwealth, constitutional corporations or carrying on an activity in a territory in Australia; and
- notional agreements preserving state awards—state awards created before the Work Choices legislation came into operation, covering employers that are constitutional corporations.
The Awards with the most application to the transport industry are available in this section of the web-site. Simply click on the links to the Award applicable to your industry (above).
What are Awards?
