Employers and employees previously covered by six state awards in the metal, engineering and fabrication industries have been covered under the new Manufacturing, Maintenance and Metal Trades Award since 23 October 2025.
This new WA award is based on the previous Metal Trades (General) Award. The award’s scope was expanded and changes to some provisions were made to incorporate employees previously covered by the following state awards:
- Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Industry (Construction and Servicing) Award;
- Gate, Fence and Frames Manufacturing Award;
- Sheet Metal Workers Award;
- Thermal Insulation Contracting Industry Award; and
- Vehicle Builders Award.
These changes include:
- expanding the classification structure to incorporate fabricators, sheet metal workers and panel beaters;
- clarifying the way junior rates of pay are expressed to reflect the minimum conditions of employment;
- increasing of some allowances; and
- additional redundancy provisions for some employees.
The WA award summaries for the Metal Trades (General) Award, Sheet Metal Workers Award and Vehicle Builders Award outline the pay rates and entitlements under these three awards that applied until 22 October 2025. Wageline did not have award summaries for the other three awards.
The Wageline WA award summary for the Manufacturing, Maintenance and Metal Trades Award Summary is available.
The Manufacturing, Maintenance and Metal Trades Award does not apply to:
- employers and employees in the national industrial relations system; or
- employees in the electrical contracting industry who are covered by the Electrical Contracting Industry Award.
Print this page
