The National Code sets minimum standards that businesses must meet to be eligible for certain Australian Government building and construction work.
The National Code Implementation Guidelines provide supporting detail on compliance requirements.
See other ABCC fact sheets to determine when the National Code applies and which set of Guidelines to use.
This fact sheet applies to all projects that were the subject of an expression of interest or tender let for the first time on or after 1 August 2009.
Before the Australian Government’s introduction of the National Code of Practice for the Construction Industry (National Code) and Australian Government Implementation Guidelines for the National Code (Guidelines) it was common to find unacceptable workplace practices on building and construction sites. These included behaviour that was unlawful, undermined freedom of association principles and hindered the adoption of world best practice.
The National Code and Guidelines works to remove these unacceptable practices by providing a model for behaviour that will reform the building and construction industry and bring about productivity improvements.
Unacceptable practices in relation to freedom of association
The following examples illustrate practices that are inconsistent with the National Code and Guidelines:
- providing the names of new staff, job applicants, contractors or subcontractors to unions other than as required by law
- ‘no ticket, no start’ signs, or ‘show card’ days
- using forms requiring the employee to identify their union status or employers and contractors to identify the union status of employees or subcontractors
- refusing to employ, or terminating an employee, because of their union status
- the imposition, or attempted imposition, of a requirement for any contractor, subcontractor or employer to employ a non-working shop steward or job delegate or to hire an individual nominated by a union
- any requirement that a person pay a ‘bargaining fee,’ however described, to an industrial association of which he/she is not a member, in respect of services provided by it
- discriminating against or disadvantaging elected employee representatives
- employers refusing a reasonable request from a workplace delegate to represent employees in relation to grievances and disputes or discussions with members.
Right of entry
All parties tendering for Australian Government construction activity must ensure they and their subcontractors strictly comply with their right of entry requirements in accordance with the applicable legislation, court and tribunal orders and industrial instruments. This includes all right of entry provisions applicable to workplace relations and OHS.
Project agreements
Unregistered project agreements are strictly prohibited and no attempts should be made to enforce their requirements.
The integrity of individual enterprise agreements must be maintained. This means project agreements cannot override the workplace arrangements of individual contractors, subcontractors, consultants and suppliers, nor may they provide conditions which by their nature have effect beyond the duration of the project, such as redundancy pay or superannuation contributions.
Legal obligations
The reform of these workplace practices in no way relieves building industry participants from their legal obligations. All parties must comply with the provisions of their industrial instruments. All employers must comply with employment obligations such as workers compensation, superannuation, long service leave and employee entitlements.