‘Goliath is the unions’: Small business the new battleground as jobs bill passes lower house

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has left room to raise the threshold for small businesses to be pulled into multi-employer deals ahead of a looming Senate fight over Labor’s divisive industrial relations bill after it passed the lower house despite a wall of vocal opposition.

The Senate will have until December 1 to debate and vote on the Secure Jobs, Better Pay bill after it was passed through the House or Representatives on Thursday afternoon, during which opposition and teal independents combined to argue for greater protections for small businesses in the legal overhaul.

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke in parliament on Thursday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The “single interest” multi-employer bargaining stream will give employees the ability to bargain across multiple businesses if the majority of workers from each employer agree to do so, sparking outcry from businesses who say employers will be pulled into unworkable pay deals.

Crossbenchers and the opposition unsuccessfully moved amendments to prevent small businesses from being roped into multi-employer deals by pushing to raise the number of employees allowed under the definition of small business to well above the current threshold of 15 people. Workplaces under that number can opt in and out of deals.

Asked during a press conference whether he was prepared to make changes to that threshold, Burke said the nature of every Senate negotiation meant “you end up with bills that are not in identical form to the government’s preferred form”.

“That’s the reality of dealing with the Senate,” Burke said, adding he was having private conversations with various crossbenchers.

Burke stood with early educators at Parliament House after the industrial relations bill passed the lower house on Thursday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Council of Small Business Organisations Australia head Alexi Boyd, who opposes the bill, said the rhetoric was a “step in the right direction” but said she was joining other business groups in calling for the threshold to be 100 employees.

“My daughter works in a cafe on a train platform. You can’t fit more than three people in the cafe, but they have 15 staff,” she said.

But Burke said the chance of getting everyone in agreement about workplace relations was “a remote possibility”.

“You can negotiate forever, and what happens in that time? We continue with wages being kept low,” he said.

Rebekha Sharkie said the government was setting small businesses up for a battle with unions.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Flanked by a crowd of early educators, who the government has spruiked as potential beneficiaries of multi-employer bargaining, Burke confronted the use of arguments about soaring living costs to oppose the legislation.

“The cost of living has two sides, it has prices and it has wages, and you can’t seriously care about cost of living unless you’re doing something about wages,” Burke said.

The bill passed 80 votes to 56 with support from the Greens and some independents including Dr Monique Ryan and Zoe Daniel, the latter of whom described the concern over the potential impact on small businesses as being “multipartisan”. Independent Helen Haines also said the size of affected businesses needed to be addressed.

South Australian independent Rebekha Sharkie pushed to raise the definition of a small business to 100 employees, saying the current bill would capture fruit and vegetable stores, petrol stations, and other small, independent operators.

“This bill is unwittingly putting mum and dad operators against unions,” Sharkie said. “This government is setting up small business for a David and Goliath battle, where David is small business and Goliath is the unions.”

Opposition MP Dan Tehan said the house was sending Burke a clear message: “You’ve got this wrong”.

The government voted down most crossbencher and opposition amendments, which included scrapping a veto right for unions on pay deals between employers and workers.

Independent Dr Sophie Scamps, from Sydney’s northern beaches, also received the support of fellow Sydney independent Allegra Spender and West Australian Kate Chaney in arguing against the scrapping of the controversial Australian Building and Construction Commission.

The government has pledged to scrap the agency as it believes it is politicised and predominantly concerned with policing union activity.

Kylea Tink moved an amendment to give a new construction industry oversight body more accountability.Credit: Natalie Boog

North Sydney independent MP Kylea Tink, who successfully moved an amendment to give a new construction industry oversight body more accountability, criticised the government over being handed dozens of pages of amendments with just a day to consider them.

“The creation of much of this anxiety is a result of the government’s decision to push this through so quickly,” Tink said.

Burke made several concessions after negotiating with both businesses and unions, including barring the commercial building sector from being able to undertake multi-employer bargaining and making it easier for workers to engage in industrial action.

Business groups, including the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Australian Industry Group, and Business Council of Australia - who the government has been consulting with over the legislation - issued a joint statement on Wednesday urging against the bill being passed.

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