Skills program will keep the unions sweet

Bill Shorten’s $1 billion announcement on TAFE and apprentices seeks to trump the Coalition’s rebadged skills package but, like the government, Labor’s headline number is misleading.

The Opposition Leader has matched the dollar apprenticeship incentives offered by the government in Tuesday’s budget, and ­almost doubled the number of promised apprenticeships from 80,000 under the government to 150,000 if Labor is elected.

But less than half of the spending represents newly announced funding commitments. Of the $1bn, about $430 million is new money: $330m for the apprenticeship incentives and $100m on TAFEs.

Shorten’s apprentices pledge will be endorsed by the union movement, which stands to benefit from an array of policy changes if Labor wins next month’s election.

Union leaders are openly advocating a vote for Shorten, with the ACTU telling members that a change of government is the only way its “change the rules” campaign will succeed. United Voice has launched new ads, which ­declare “only Labor will protect your penalty rates”.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus hopes 250,000 workers will flood the streets of capital cities next Wednesday in rallies ­designed to represent mass anti-Coalition protests.

Shorten says this election will be a referendum on wages and Labor says it is also about redressing the “balance and power relationship in workplaces”.

Shorten will abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission, going further than Julia Gillard and alarming employers still disappointed by the Coalition’s failure to stop the merger of the construction and maritime unions.

Shorten has committed to ­allowing unions to pursue multi-employer bargaining beyond low-paid industries, backing such claims where enterprise bargaining has failed.

It can’t be said Labor is trying to hide its intentions but it is little wonder the ACTU is now un­ashamedly campaigning for Shorten.