Awards up for grabs as unions offered olive branch on casuals

Stripping back awards in hospitality, tourism and a trade-off over casuals’ entitlements emerge as priority targets in IR reform talks.

Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter wants to improve an ­enterprise bargaining process he describes as excruciating. Picture: AAP

Stripping back awards in the ­distressed hospitality and tourism sectors, new deals locking in pay rates for the life of massive projects, and a trade-off over the ­entitlements of casual workers have emerged as priority targets of the government’s workplace reform talks.

The Australian understands ­that increasing the ability of casuals to request permanent employment shapes as a key olive branch to ­unions ­as the government establishes a new definition of casual employment to protect companies from billions of dollars of backpay claims.

Following Scott Morrison’s call for business leaders and unions to “put their weapons down’’ and seek new ways to create jobs in the COVID-19 recovery, the ACTU and employer groups will next week begin three months of negotiations to rewrite workplace rules.

Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter on Wednesday singled out complexities in the hospitality award as he declared there was a need to improve an ­enterprise bargaining process he called excruciating, and the “most complicated confusing process that I’ve ever seen as a lawyer”.

Mr Porter said tourism and hospitality, which had been hard hit by COVID-19, employed a high number of casual workers and had a “clunky” award with 61 adult classifications, each with 14 potential hourly rates.

“If we all agree that creates an environment that’s really hard for business to grow their business, and we desperately need those businesses to grow and employ, then it makes sense to sit down in a room and try and work out how you might simplify that particular award because those industries are in such severe distress,” he said.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus expressed sympathy for some employer complaints about the enterprise bargaining system, ­acknowledging that business concerns about delays in approving agreements had merit.

Asked about the Fair Work Act’s better-off-overall test and the requirement each worker be better off than the award, Ms McManus said the principle that bargaining was about improving on the safety net was a good one.

“Having said that, employers have been worried that measuring that just holds up the whole bargaining process (and that concern) does have some merits,” she told ABC radio. “I can understand if everyone has reached agreement, and you have got to wait a long time for that agreement to even be approved, that that’s something that in business’s mind will think: ‘Well, that’s not very efficient and that’s getting in the way of us doing things.’ So we do have some sympathy for that position.”

Writing in The Australian on Thursday, Ms McManus says that as “we contemplate the enormous challenge of rebuilding Australia’s economy, it’s become clear that there is no going back to business as usual”.

She says having workers involved in the working groups would ensure the government hears the “voice of ordinary ­Australians and what it is they want from an economic system that has too often failed them”.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus expressed sympathy for some employer complaints about the enterprise bargaining system. Picture: Jane Dempster

Declaring that the government would act as a broker between employers and unions to try to fix problems examined over recent months, Mr Porter said work was “relatively well advanced” on the proposal to have enterprise agreements that would lock in pay and conditions and prevent legal industrial action for the life of major projects.

The government has already prepared legislation criminalising serious forms of wage theft and before the COVID-19 crisis was examining banning directors from boards of companies that underpaid workers. Companies ripping off workers could also be stopped from employing migrant workers and required to display a notice ­admitting underpayments.

Mr Porter said the government wanted workers to be better off ­because the process was about driving job growth and recovery.

“How different parties to this consultation and negotiation process measure whether or not someone is better off is going to differ from party to party,” he said. “But the whole point of the process is that we want everyone to be better off, because you’re much worse off if you don’t have a job.”

Mr Porter will gather senior union officials and employer group representatives next week ahead of finalising the make-up of the five working groups. The Australian understands that while the government is not tying potential changes to JobSeeker, previously known as Newstart Allowance, with the industrial relations negotiations, consideration will be given to the level of welfare payments before the coronavirus supplement stops on September 24.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox backed replacing the better-off-overall test with a less restrictive no-disadvantage test but signalled employers would continue to oppose criminalising wage theft. “The current hefty civil penalties are appropriate,” he said.

“Exposing employers to criminal penalties for underpayments, including imprisonment, as has been suggested in the past by the union movement, would risk discouraging investment and employment. This would be particularly difficult at this time when we need to … encourage investment and employment.”

Liberal and Nationals backbenchers were critical of Mr Morrison’s decision to junk the Ensuring Integrity Bill before gaining concessions from unions.

“How absurd is it to shelve the Ensuring Integrity Bill without getting anything in return? Now that it is dumped, it is no longer a negotiating or bargaining tool,” one Liberal MP said.

Liberal senator Eric Abetz, a former industrial relations minister, said he was delighted industrial relations reform was back on the agenda. Nationals senator Matt Canavan said the Coalition parties had replaced Labor’s role as being the party of workers.

ALP leader Anthony Albanese said he was wondering what the government’s position was on the five broad issues nominated by the Prime Minister: “What they’ve done is establish working groups. This government has been in office for seven years. And for seven years what they’ve done is denigrate workers’ organisations, attack trade unions and said they’ve been a promoter of conflict.”

Additional reporting: Greg Brown