Industrial relations turning point

Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke’s determination not to compromise on the need to “get wages moving’’ through his workplace relations bill is understandable. Doing so was one of Labor’s core election promises. And last week’s budget made it clear that real wages are not expected to start growing until 2024, when inflation moderates. Parts of Mr Burke’s Secure Work, Better Pay bill have been well received. The sticking point for employers, however, is multi-employer bargaining. It winds the system back almost 40 years, to before the Hawke-Keating governments. Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott believes the legislation opens the door to widespread industrial actions. She cites the problem of “consumers waiting for their trains, people not being able to get their services and goods on a timely manner, because supply chains are disrupted’’. Large competitors will be forced to bargain together, she says, will potentially push wages down and have an adverse impact on many small businesses. “This legislation will not deliver those wage increases, it will not make Australia more competitive, it will not create the conditions for things to be made in Australia,’’ she said.

At the same press conference on Friday, Tania Constable, chief executive of the Minerals Council of Australia, raised the issue of strike action occurring in a particular geographic area: “If there was a six-week strike in Port Hedland, applying to that port, then, and we’ve got about 1.4 million tonnes of iron ore going out of that area, the loss to Australia is about $9bn in revenue, and $500m in royalties for Western Australia alone. That’s a lot of hospitals. It’s a lot of police stations. It’s a lot of the teachers and schools that we have to have in Australia in every state. So that’s a practical example of the economic loss that we will face through this bill.’’

The bill has been referred to a Senate inquiry, to report back to parliament on November 17. With Greens support, the government needs the support of just one member of the crossbench to get the bill through the Senate. But business groups have been meeting crossbenchers to urge them not to allow the bill to pass this year. More careful, detailed consideration on such a complex issue as workplace laws, with potential to improve, or impede productivity and growth, would be in the national interest. As ACT senator David Pocock says three weeks is “not long enough to properly consider what are clearly the biggest ­reforms to industrial relations law in Australia in more than a decade”.

Mr Burke says he is having constructive behind-the-scenes discussions with businesses and that he is “open” to changes. The news that the militant CFMEU construction division would be effectively excluded from multi-employer bargaining due to its history of law-breaking is welcome. But opposition workplace relations spokeswoman Michaelia Cash raised a pertinent point when she asked how long the CFMEU would be excluded. In the meantime, the union would save millions of dollars in fines due to the abolition of the ABCC.