The Senate has passed a number of amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009, however the Government has been unable to attract sufficient support from cross-benchers for several key proposed changes, which have now been omitted from the Fair Work Amendment Bill 2014.

The passed amendments are significant and include:

• establishing a new process for negotiation of greenfields agreements by extending good faith bargaining to the negotiation of these agreements and providing an optional six month negotiation timeframe for the parties to reach agreement (following which an employer can apply to the Fair Work Commission (Commission) for approval of its agreement);
• providing new requirements to prevent employees from taking protected industrial action unless bargaining has commenced (either voluntarily or because a majority support determination has been made);
• imposing an obligation on employers to discuss with employees a refusal to grant an extension to unpaid parental leave.