IR bill still not ‘fit for passage’, say industry and employer groups

The government and senator David Pocock on Sunday (27 November) announced an agreement designed to facilitate the passage of the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill, including multi-employer bargaining.

But the Australian Industry Group and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry both said the bill still puts Australian jobs and businesses at risk.

“It is fundamentally flawed and simply cannot be improved through the amendments that are now proposed. In our view it is not fit for passage,” said ACCI chief executive Andrew McKellar.

“We appreciate the efforts of Senator David Pocock to ameliorate the negative outcomes for small business and his support for many of the Chamber’s proposed amendments to the Bill.

“He has consulted in good faith with the business community, and we welcome his practical changes including partially addressing the union veto, extending the bargaining grace period, supporting conciliation for working arrangements, and the introduction of a new reasonable comparability threshold to the common interest test.”

The ACCI said the outcome, however, remains a bill that is overwhelmingly inimical to the interests of business and the Australian economy.

“The costs to business in grappling with this complex system will be significant,” it said.

“Small businesses with over 20 employees can still be forced to adopt workplace arrangements and pay rates that they had no role in negotiating. Competitors can still be forced to bargain together.

“Employers and employees who both want to negotiate their own enterprise agreement will still have no avenue to exit an ill-suited, one-sized-fits-all multi-employer regulation.

“The Bill, as it stands, will do nothing to achieve the aim of increasing wages, and will only add cost and complexity to Australian businesses at a time when they are dealing with deteriorating conditions.

“Ultimately, this Bill represents a fundamental de-linkage of wages with productivity and will detract from the flexibility and dynamism required by modern economies.

“We remain of the view that this Bill is not fit for passage.”

Innes Willox, CEO of the national employer association Ai Group, said the late-night deal between Senator Pocock and the federal government means Australian industry now faces an industrial relations system riddled with conflict, complexity, and uncertainty.

“The deal as it stands does not remove the core concerns for industry — that businesses can be dragged into a multi-enterprise bargaining arrangement based on still vague notions of a ‘common interest’; remain subject to the threat and reality of greater industrial action; and have no clear pathway to extract themselves from a bargaining system that may not suit their circumstances,” Mr Willox said.

“The primacy of the enterprise agreement system which has underpinned much of our economic success over the past four decades has now been shattered. There is nothing in the deal or the legislation that will drive the substantial productivity growth Australia needs to deliver wages growth.

“We now face the prospect of more strikes and fewer jobs. There has been no modelling on any economic benefit of the legislation, only the vague hope that employers with an industrial gun to their head will pay more and somehow not pass costs onto consumers or reduce their headcount.”

Mr Willox said the concessions agreed to by the government don’t provide any improvement for the bulk of Australian businesses.

“The change in headcount exemption for small business is almost meaningless. A review of awards has already been dragging on for almost a decade. A two-year review of the legislation, if it is done by the parliament, will undoubtedly find it had been a stunning success regardless of the reality for industry,” he said.

“The exemption for civil construction is welcome but does nothing to fundamentally change the CFMMEU’s construction division’s business model which relies on threats and intimidation.

“Industry will continue to constructively work with the Senate to seek to improve the legislation. There is a lot in the Bill, such as around sexual harassment and gender equity and, with some amendments, changes to the Better Off Overall Test that industry clearly supports. A range of amendments to the operability of the legislation will be proposed to the Senate this week. Industry hopes they can be accepted to improve the legislation as it applies in the real world of Australian workplaces.”