WALGA Employee Relations represents the Local Government sector through WALGA on a number of industrial and human resource issues. This includes changes to legislation, awards and test cases.

Four Year LGIA Review

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) is required to undertake a four-year review of all modern awards (including the Local Government Industry Award 2010) in accordance with section 156 of the Fair Work Act 2009.

WALGA Employee Relations has been advocating on behalf of the Local Government sector during this review and has partnered with other State and Territory Local Government Associations during the review proceedings.

WALGA has advocated on behalf of the Local Government sector in respect of the following issues:

  • cashing out of annual leave
  • direction to take annual leave where accrued leave is excessive
  • district allowance, and
  • annual leave loading on termination.

WALGA Employee Relations will continue to seek feedback from the sector, and advocate on their behalf, when further issues arise during the four-year review process.

Ministerial Review of the State Industrial Relations System

The Ministerial Review of the State industrial relations system (State IR System) was intended to deliver on the WA Government’s election commitment to review key aspects of the State IR System, including to consider whether the local government employers and employees in Western Australia should be regulated by the State IR System, and if so, how that outcome could be best achieved.

WALGA provided comprehensive interim submissions to the Ministerial Review:

​The WA Government’s response to the Ministerial Review, is to amend the Industrial Relations Act 1979 (IR Act) to enable a declaration to be made that WA Local Government authorities are not “national system employers” under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) byway of the Industrial Relations Legislation Amendment Bill 2021 (WA) (IR Bill) which was introduced into State Parliament on 20 October 2021.  

Any declaration made under the IR Act will require the endorsement of the Federal Minister for Industrial Relations under the FW Act.
WALGA will continue to advocate and participate in any taskforce established to facilitate the transition of affected local government employers and employees from the national industrial relations system to the State IR system.

Local Government Workforce Development Group

WALGA Employee Relations meets with their counterparts from the States and Territory Local Government Associations on a regular basis to discuss topical human resources and workforce issues which affect the Local Government Sector. 

This includes issues such as training and development, workforce planning, industrial/political trends, remuneration and generally sharing experiences from each State and Territory.