Only four per cent of small businesses around Albury-Wodonga on the NSW-Victorian border have an Australian Workplace Agreement (AWA) in place, according to a recent survey by Charles Sturt University (CSU).

The survey also found that only 1.5 per cent of staff who were not managers were covered by the agreements, which were introduced by the Federal Government in 1997.

According to CSU business lecturer Bill Robbins, the award system is still very entrenched in the small businesses surveyed.

“Awards, rather than AWAs, regulate the terms and conditions of employees in 75 per cent of the businesses we surveyed. This situation seems likely to remain with 56 per cent saying they preferred awards,” Mr Robbins said.

“Business managers and owners said they did not use AWAs for a number of reasons: the majority prefer awards, while nearly 20 per cent said they had not heard of AWAs, and a further 14 per cent said AWAs were too complicated and time-consuming.

“Clearly, small regional businesses seem to prefer the award system over workplace agreements,” he said.

Fellow CSU researcher Gerry Voll said only two per cent of businesses felt trade unions were obstacles in negotiating AWAs, while three per cent preferred to make informal, private employment arrangements.

The survey was part of a research project that investigated the acceptance of the Goods and Services Tax and AWAs by small and medium-sized businesses in Albury and Wodonga for one month during September and October. It is one of the largest surveys of small regional businesses ever completed in Australia.

More than 36 per cent of the 2000 businesses approached responded to the telephone survey, which Mr Robbins said was one of the largest and most comprehensive ever completed on these issues in Australia, and the most comprehensive ever completed for regional areas.