It's one of the government's highest priorities before the parliamentary year ends — passing its Secure Jobs, Better Pay bill, which it says is key to setting the wheels in motion on a pay rise for millions of Australian workers.
But while the contentious legislation has passed the House of Representatives, there are still a few hurdles to getting it through the Senate.
A parliamentary report into the bill is set to be released today and with it some potential clarity on which way two key Senate crossbenchers, David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie, are leaning.
Both senators have said they wanted to wait until today's report into the bill was released before making any further comments about where they stand on it, whether they're inclined to back it or what changes they'll seek.
It may be worth mentioning here that Senator Pocock ran on an election platform of restoring the rights of the ACT and NT to legalise assisted dying and has been vocal about having the legislation voted on before the end of the year, and it could become a bargaining chip in the industrial relations negotiations.
Both senators have also made it clear they want more time to consider the bill given how complex and broad it is, or have it broken into two parts — two options the government isn't keen on.
To bring you up to speed, here are the key parts of the legislation
Multi-employer bargaining
This is by far the most controversial and complex part of the package of legislation.
Multi-employer bargaining is essentially the same thing as collective bargaining and is when workers in the same industry who are employed by different employers decide to bargain as a group.
So instead of reaching agreements one by one, they reach an agreement that covers everyone and every workplace that's part of the agreement and is approved by the Fair Work Commission.
At the moment, about 15 per cent of workers are covered by these kinds of agreements, but the government wants to see that rise and argues it's one of the key ways to get wages moving.
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke says the government isn't trying to reinvent the wheel with the legislation and instead is trying to make it easier for workers and workplaces to sign up to these collective deals.
The government has already made a few concessions on this part, including that a majority of employees in each workplace will have to vote in favour of multi-employer bargaining before any agreement can be reached.
Even with those changes, many business groups are still firmly opposed to expanding multi-employer bargaining and have warned it could potentially lead to more industrial action.
Unions, on the other hand, are broadly supportive of the changes but also don't think it goes far enough.
Pay secrecy
This is one of the less controversial elements of the bill and would mean that employers wouldn't be able to put "pay secrecy clauses" into employment contracts.
At the moment, employers can put them in and ban their workers from comparing wages and salaries with their colleagues.
If the bill passes it'd mean employees would be free to discuss it with whoever they wanted to.
Greater flexibility
The bill also includes changes that'll give more rights to employees to negotiate with their employers about working flexible hours that suit their needs.
The main change is employers won't be allowed to unreasonably refuse a request from someone who's trying to balance their work and life commitments.
Specifically, the law will cover parents with school-aged kids, carers and over-55s with the new flexibility clause, meaning if their work refuses a request they can take them to the Fair Work Commission.
But as the government's pointed out, lots of workplaces are already embracing flexible working, particularly since the COVID pandemic, and in an ideal setting that number will continue to grow.
Fewer fixed-term contracts
Getting more people into permanent work and off rolling fixed-term contracts is another target in the government's bill.
If the law is changed, it'd mean fixed contracts — where workers are employed for set periods of time instead of on a permanent basis — would be capped at no more than two years or two consecutive contracts, whichever one is shorter.
The argument by the government is that the current system undermines job security which has flow-on effects to the rest of people's lives.
Ending sexual harassment
The legislation, if passed, will also put in place one of the Respect@Work report recommendations by making sexual harassment in the workplace "expressly prohibited" under Commonwealth law.
The report was released in 2020 and looked specifically at the prevalence of sexual harassment in the workplace and the adequacy of systems to prevent it from happening, and support people who experience it.
