Burke pushes IR changes mark 3

As it seeks to cultivate a new generation of comrades, the trade union movement has again shown itself to be out of touch with how business and the economy really work. A new front to demand 18-year-old workers are paid the same as their more experienced colleagues will increase the burden on small businesses at a time they can least afford it. It should also set alarm bells ringing for Anthony Albanese that he must do more to rein in Workplace Minister Tony Burke.

Mr Burke has been on a mission to deliver just what Labor’s ACTU paymasters want. Industry-wide bargaining, a clampdown on casual work, an end to enterprise agreements and a guaranteed seat at the workplace table for trade union representatives have all been the fruits for the ACTU from Labor’s return to power.

The full impacts of Labor’s IR changes are yet to be felt. But with small business closures on the rise and household spending in retreat, trade unions have made it clear they are not done yet. The shop assistants’ union has launched legal action to scrap junior pay rates for more than 500,000 workers aged 18 and older across the retail, fast-food and pharmacy sectors, igniting a major battle with business. ACTU secretary Sally McManus and shop assistants’ union national secretary Gerard Dwyer lodged the “groundbreaking” application, which also seeks to lift existing junior rates of pay for workers aged 15 to 17.

The claim is being backed up by the ACTU Congress, which has called for broader abolition of junior rates for workers aged 18 and over across the workforce. Other ACTU demands include a four-day working week for the same pay, more rostered days off and universal access to 10 days’ paid reproductive leave as well as employer-funded time off work for prostate and breast cancer screening, IVF treatment, post-vasectomy recovery, and menopause, breastfeeding and menstruation issues. All are issues on which Labor would happily work to wedge the Coalition.

But business cannot afford a repeat of Mr Burke’s IR changes marks 1 and 2. Given the precarious economic situation facing many small businesses, the Albanese government must be careful how it responds. Just as young people must consider the bigger picture. Boosting rates of pay to equal those of more experienced workers is likely to have unintended consequences. These include fewer jobs in retail, fast food and hospitality, and a more difficult challenge for young people to get that all-important first step on the employment ladder to personal prosperity.