BCA bid to gut multi-employer bargaining

The Business Council wants multi-employer bargaining restricted to low-paid industries.

Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott. Picture: Arsineh Houspian.

Big business has called for the gutting of Labor’s planned expansion of multi-employer bargaining, urging the government to exclude mining, construction, small businesses employing up to 100 workers, and restrict the scheme to low-paid industries.

Appearing at a Senate inquiry hearing into Labor’s industrial relations bill, Business Council chief executive Jennifer Westacott called for a majority of employees in each workplace to be required to vote in favour of entering into a multi-employer agreement; the terms and conditions of an agreement; and the taking of protected industrial action.

“We strongly recommend that high-paid industries with a history of bargaining such as construction and mining should be taken out,” Ms Westacott said.

“Including mining would represent a major risk to the sector that is underpinning so much of our economic growth. It is trade-exposed and is essential for our clean energy transition.

“The construction industry determines the cost of your house, the cost of your freeway, and the cost of public infrastructure. It is essential to whether we can address congestion and house prices.

“Small businesses with less than 100 employees should be excluded – they don’t have huge HR departments or the time and money to be embroiled in additional red tape,” she said.

Under confidential concessions being examined by Labor to win Senate support for its industrial relations changes, businesses would be able to ­negotiate with workers for a single enterprise agreement for six to 12 months before being roped into multi-employer bargaining by unions

ACTU president Michele O’Neil criticised the resources and energy sector employers for threatening a multi-million-dollar campaign against multi-employer bargaining and greater arbitration powers for the Fair Work Commission.

Accusing them of running a scare campaign, Ms O’Neil said: “We know these companies and their tactics. They are not telling the truth. They know the majority of workers in their sector are covered by single-enterprise agreements and will continue to be.

“But any perceived threat to their super profits and they reach into their very deep pockets to subvert the mandate of an elected government to get wages moving. They revert to bullyboy tactics, and issue blatant threats to further their self interest.

“Well I’m not convinced a mining billionaire on the back of a truck in a high vis vest will fool anyone in 2022.”

Qantas chair Richard Goyder has called for more time to consider the government’s proposed IR changes.

“We understand the importance of wages growth to maintain and improve standards of living – particularly in low-paid industries,” he told the company’s AGM on Friday.

“Qantas is not one of those. Our average non-executive salary is more than $100,000 a year.

“Around 85 per cent of our workforce is covered by agreements that are negotiated with unions and voted on by our people.

“We’re concerned that the proposed changes effectively dismantle the enterprise bargaining system that has served Australia well for decades.

“We’re concerned that lowering the bar for compulsory arbitration and enforcing multi-employer bargaining would effectively lead to centralised wage setting.”

He said the system would have “little regard for the fact different companies have different needs”.

“That will have a massive impact on productivity, growth and … the ability to pay more,” he said.