Labor’s first tranche of workplace reforms has created a more hostile bargaining regime, encouraged more casual employment and had a “disastrous” effect on the construction industry, employers say.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called for the repeal of union bargaining powers and more relaxed approval tests for agreements in response to the Albanese government’s Secure Jobs, Better Pay laws, which introduced multi-employer bargaining, unilateral arbitration, fixed-term contract limits and the abolition of the building regulator in late 2022.