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NSW will join the national industrial relations system from next year, cutting red tape for more than 200,000 of the State’s mall businesses and charities.

Following negotiations with the Commonwealth, the NSW Government has agreed to participate in the national IR system, Fair Work Australia.

The decision means that, from January 2010, the Commonwealth’s Fair Work Act will cover every employer and employee in the private sector in NSW. About half a million workers in the private sector in NSW will come under the umbrella of the national IR system from next year.

The decision includes the following arrangements:

• Seven members of the NSW Industrial Relations Commission will be appointed to Fair Work Australia;
• Fair Work Australia will be located in the Hunter and the Illawarra as well as Sydney; and
• The Fair Work Ombudsman and the NSW Office of Industrial Relations will work together for a period of 3½ years to ensure that employers and employees know their rights and responsibilities in the national system.

The NSW Government will introduce an urgent Bill into Parliament for the referral of industrial relations powers to the Commonwealth.