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Small and large business organisations recoil at the government’s industrial relations bill.
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Rushed changes to workplace relations risk ‘conflict’
31 October 2022
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10 minute read
Changes to industrial relations laws are too important to be rushed, say business bodies in the wake of the government’s Secure Jobs, Better Pay bill introduced to parliament last week, or the result will be “workplace conflict”.
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A simpler and more accessible industrial relations system should be the primary goal, said the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA), and that would take time.
“COSBOA looks forward to more robust discussions with government to bring further positive reform to create a modern award system for the betterment of all small business operators,” it said.
“COSBOA are seeking appropriate timelines for a quality consultation process for all legislation.”
“In particular, for the IR Bill released on Thursday 27 October, with the high level of complexity it is crucial there is ample time to consider all and any unintended consequences for small businesses.”
The council said it wanted three things from a revised industrial relations system:
- More flexibility not more complexity
- More practical support for small business to engage in flexible and appropriate workplaces so they can ultimately employ more people
- Forward-looking discussions about modernising awards rather than adding another mechanism for negotiating agreements
Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott said there a danger that the bill would make jobs less secure and less well paid.
“Australians deserve more money in their pockets, but multi-employer bargaining is not a plan to do it,” she said.
“We are worried that as currently proposed the new multi-employer bargaining streams will leave workers waiting longer for pay increases while unions and lawyers squabble over who can even be at the table.”
“We are deeply concerned that the new system could see small businesses swept up in a complex system dominated by unions and lawyers, currently one large workplace could vote to pull smaller workplaces into an agreement.”
In forthright opposition to the bill, Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox said the changes would turn workplaces into “conflict zones”.
“This does nothing for productivity or growth,” he said. “It would only threaten our decades of national prosperity which have been underpinned by a focus on supporting bargaining at our small and large enterprises.”
“Industry-wide bargaining and a centralised industrial system belong to an era of tariff walls, fixed currencies, picket lines and secondary boycotts.”
“In the budget, the government made it clear our economy now faces extreme pressures. Turning our workplaces into conflict zones only threatens to make things much worse.”
Chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Andrew McKellar said if the government was going to change the way workplace relations had been conducted for decades a public forum of discussion was necessary.
“The bill abandons enterprise bargaining, the key driver of productivity-based wages growth, in favour of compulsory multi-employer bargaining, reversing decades of tripartite consensus,” said Mr McKellar.
“Enterprise bargaining is the cornerstone of our workplace relations system, and any significant change requires an extended period of robust and transparent public consultation.”
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