Christian Porter sparks ACTU brawl over enterprise agreement change

Sally McManus has accused the Attorney-General of allowing bosses to ram through pay cuts under changes made to enterprise agreements.

Secretary of the ACTU Sally McManus. Picture: AAP

Bosses will use new powers to push workers to quickly agree to cancel or delay future pay rises under government changes that have ­ignited union anger and tested the co-operative relationship between the Coalition and the ACTU during the coronavirus crisis.

Business groups hailed the decision by Industrial Relations Minister and Attorney-General Christian Porter to temporarily slash the time employers needed to consult with employees over changes to enterprise agreements.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus accused business of a “shocking and disgusting power grab”, declaring companies would use the changes to ram through cuts to the pay and conditions of their workers.

Employers had previously been required to give at least seven days’ notice to employees of any proposed change to an enterprise agreement before it could be put to a vote of workers.

Under changes made to the Fair Work regulations on Thursday, the time period has been reduced to a minimum of just one day. The changes apply to all businesses with employees covered by enterprise agreements, including those who are not eligible for the emergency JobKeeper payments.

Mr Porter said the government approved the changes to give ­employers greater flexibility to rapidly respond to the extreme and urgent workplace challenges caused by the pandemic.

The changes will revert to seven days after six months, and Mr Porter said having listened to concerns raised by the ACTU, he would review how the changes were operating in two months.

Mr Porter and Ms McManus have had a strong working relationship during the pandemic, speaking daily on video link, texting and messaging through WhatsApp. “If you told me I was going to be BFFs with Sally McManus three weeks ago, I wouldn’t have believed you,” Mr Porter told The Australian in March.

Attorney-General Christian Porter. Picture: AAP

It is understood Ms McManus strongly criticised the changes, made after lobbying from business groups, during a conversation with Mr Porter on Thursday.

Unions said employers would now be able to hold a ballot on changes to agreements just 24 hours after announcing them, ­giving workers little time to understand their impact or discuss them with colleagues or their union.

“By agreeing to these changes, Christian Porter would be using his power to abolish rules that protect workers, their job security and their rights at work,” Ms Mc­Manus said.

“These changes will allow employers to ram through reductions in pay and undermine job security.

“The current rules ensure workers have adequate time to consider any proposal to change an enterprise agreement, to discuss this with their employer, other workers and to seek advice.

“This change effectively takes away all these rights, leaving workers exposed to employers seeking to exploit the fear caused by the pandemic and to pressure workers into rushed agreements, locking out their access to advice.”

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said “many enterprise agreements were reached in better times and contain provisions which are impeding businesses in responding to the COVID-19 crisis”.

He said changes that could be agreed included the delaying or cancelling of future wage increases; more flexible working hours; removing restrictions on part-time employment; more flexible leave arrangements; and giving an employer more rights to direct employees to take accrued leave.

Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott welcomed the changes and thanked Mr Porter for acting on the concerns of its members.

“For thousands of workers, the changes will mean the difference between keeping their job or losing it because their employer was hamstrung by restrictive, time-consuming processes to make necessary and reasonable changes,” she said.

“Crucially, this will give businesses the capacity to retain their workers and ease gradually back into production once the recovery begins. Large employers who aren’t eligible to claim JobKeeper assistance for their workers will now have room to move and stay afloat. For some businesses, this will be even more valuable than a wage subsidy.”

Labor’s industrial relations spokesman Tony Burke said employers would be able to tell workers about changes one day and then conduct a vote on the changes the next.

“Just a few weeks ago, the government was insisting there were no unions and employers anymore — that we were all on Team Australia. Decisions like this suggest that was just empty rhetoric,” he said. “The government should abandon this change.”

Mr Porter said employers would need to meet the essential conditions required under the “genuine agreement” test that was ultimately determined by the Fair Work Commission.

He said the changes were designed to enable companies to deal swiftly with urgent issues that were arising in their workplaces, such as health and safety issues ­associated with COVID-19.

“For example, businesses that have urgently needed to divide their workforce up into teams that rotate between working from home and in the office for social-distancing reasons haven’t been able to quickly implement those changes due to the mandatory ­access period,” he said

“In some cases, delays have been impractical and prevented employers from taking effective steps.”