Company "health" checks to protect workers' entitlements could become part of future enterprise bargaining arrangements under a scheme put forward by the Australian Workers' Union.
National secretary Bill Shorten says delegates at the national conference on the weekend voted in favour of a resolution supporting early detection of the ability of a business to pay entitlements.
Under the resolution, businesses would have to provide a report to the union each year following the publication of annual accounts.
The business would then be rated and those with a rating of less than BB+plus or a ratio of unsecured assets below 1.5 times the total of employees entitlements would have to hold immediate discussions with unions.
"Unions should know the status of workers' entitlements before a company goes into administration, not after," Shorten says.
"We see these audits as providing a critical early warning system to save workers' entitlements from being raided by companies suffering cash flow problems."
Other resolutions put forward at the conference were:
- company superannuation contributions to be boosted annually above the mandatory minimum 9% to reach 15% over the next eight years
- family friendly clauses that put reasonable limits on shift work and hours
- changes to working hours and shifts to help shift workers planning to retire
- lobbying companies to contribute to an education fund to allow workers to pursue further education and studies
- adoption of International Labour Organisation standards of paid parental leave (14 weeks for mothers, two weeks for fathers)
- reform of the occupational health and safety laws and include in agreements rights of safety representatives to maintain workplace safety against the deregulation of OHS
- maintaining awards to provide a secure safety net.