Bunnings, Woolworths, Coles employees spared from COVID pay cuts

Workers at Bunnings, Coles and Woolies will be spared a COVID-19 pay cut under proposed new laws that will see many workers worse off.

Workers at Bunnings, Coles and Woolies will be spared a COVID-19 pay cut under proposed new laws that allow employers to strike deals that leave workers worse off.

Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter made the prediction today as Labor launched a blistering attack on the plan to suspend the test that requires workers to be better off under new enterprise agreements.

While some companies had collapsed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Porter was asked about those that thrived including Coles, Bunnings and Woolworths.

He replied that there was little chance these big employers would qualify under the changes.

“I don’t see how they could possibly make that case,’’ Mr Porter said.

“Some businesses have done well because of the peculiar circumstances that have arisen during the pandemic.

“Another group of businesses have really struggled but are going back quickly. Another group of businesses, particularly those related to the movement of international passengers are going to find it really tough for a considerable period of time.”

But in Parliament, the opposition lobbed question after question at the Prime Minister over the reforms unions have compared to John Howard’s dreaded Work Choices.

RELATED: ‘COVID pay cuts’ forced on Aussie workers

Bunnings workers will be spared a COVID pay cut. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

Labor’s treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers posed a simple question to argue against the changes as the Morrison Government continues to spruik a “comeback” for the economy.

“If the economy’s going so well, why are you cutting people’s pay?’ Dr Chalmers said.

In response, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the assertion “is simply not true”.

“What we have seen across the country, what we have seen across the country, is that jobs are coming back,’’ he said.

“So it might be an inconvenient truth for the member for Rankin, but the reality across the Australian economy is that it is coming back, that is the recovery is underway.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he had no doubt the changes would help create jobs and get more people back to work.

“What the Labor Party is saying is not true. Because, Mr Speaker, 80 per cent of the jobs that have been either lost or hours reduced to zero have come back,’’ he said.

“They are the jobs of working Australians that were lost. 700,000 jobs would have been lost, were it not for the proactive work of the plans that this government put in place to see Australians through.”

RELATED: Big change for part-time workers

Woolworths and Coles employees will also be spared. Picture: Kelly Barnes/Getty Images

Some workers could face COVID-19 pay cuts under new laws to allow bosses to strike deals that leave some workers worse off, in a move unions claim is the worst attack on employee rights since WorkChoices.

The changes, which are supported by business groups, will grant the Fair Work Commission (FWC) power to approve deals that do not comply with the Fair Work Act’s better-off-overall test (BOOT) for two years under “exceptional circumstances”.

The Australian Council of Trade Union secretary Sally McManus said the laws will allow employers to make agreements that cut the wages and conditions of workers.

“These changes are dangerous and extreme. WorkChoices allowed employers to cut wages, and this proposal will do that as well,’’ Ms McManus said.

“When WorkChoices was introduced, employers rushed out to cut wages, the same will happen if this law passes. Some workers are still stuck with WorkChoices pay cuts some 13 years later.”