Unions warn industrial reforms will hit SA casual workers harder

Legal changes that will weaken casual conditions will hit SA employees harder than the rest of the nation and push down pay, unions warn.

South Australian workers will be hit harder by proposed industrial relations reforms than other states, a peak union body says.

But Business SA argues the country’s complex employment laws need to change to protect jobs and help businesses survive the pandemic.

SA Unions boss Angas Story will appear before a Senate inquiry in Adelaide today to urge senators to “significantly amend” the reforms or vote to block them entirely.

Unions warn the state’s weaker labour market, higher proportion of small businesses and higher rate of underemployment means it will be disproportionately hit by the Federal Government’s proposed workplace law changes.

Unions have warned South Australia’s casualised workforce will suffer under the Morrison Government’s plans for worker laws. Picture: iStock

The reforms would weaken casual workers’ rights, the union said in its written submission to the inquiry.

It also warned watering down the enterprise bargaining safety net, known as the better off overall test or “BOOT”, would “place more downward pressure on already stagnant wage growth” which would hamper economic recovery.

The union said the draft laws’ definition of casual employment would “extinguish the rights of workers who have been wrongly labelled as casuals” and would “facilitate the casualisation of jobs that should be permanent and secure”.

It also argued against changes that would allow part-time workers to do extra hours but not get overtime for them, or reforms that allowed companies to change an employee’s duties and location of work.

SA Unions welcomed a plan to criminalise wage theft, given SA does not have wage theft laws, but added the proposal was “weak”.

SA’s business community has welcomed many of the proposed reforms, including temporarily relaxing the BOOT test in “limited circumstances” and with “suitable protections in place”.

“It is important to remember that these agreements will only last for two years, with specific sunset clauses, and the Fair Work Commission will not pass them unless the organisation satisfactorily proves that the agreement is necessary to protect jobs and employment security,” Business SA’s submission to the inquiry said.

The group said it was critical for businesses hit by lockdowns and restrictions to be able to temporarily reduce workers’ hours or days, although there must be “appropriate employee protections”.

But it warned reforms to criminalise intentional wage theft would “unfairly target small businesses” but allow larger businesses to “continue to hide behind the corporate veil”.

The proposed reforms will be debated in parliament later this year.