Expert urges Labor to wind back bargaining law changes

Andrew Stewart has urged the government to wind back a proposed deal with the Greens on bargaining laws.

Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Workplace law expert Andrew Stewart has urged the federal government to wind back a proposed deal with the Greens on bargaining legislation, as employers warn it will undermine attempts to lift Australia’s “abysmal productivity performance”.

Professor Stewart backed concerns by Victorian Labor Treasurer Tim Pallas about Closing Loopholes Bill amendments that mean arbitration of bargaining deadlocks by the Fair Work Commission cannot reduce workers’ existing conditions.

Arguing the amendments remove incentives for unions to reach agreement, Mr Palls said a proposed clause-by-clause test could be replaced with a global no-disadvantage test.

Professor Stewart said the Greens’ amendments could result in fewer enterprise agreements being negotiated and more bargaining ending up in arbitration before the commission.

“The whole idea of what the government has been trying to do is to revive enterprise bargaining, to get more agreements made, but this potentially goes in the other direction,” he said.

“Potentially what this amendment does is to make it harder to reach agreement because employers will need to be concerned that if they offer too many concessions they end up being stuck with all their concessions but can’t get anything back in terms of reciprocal changes to the agreement.

“At the very least, it complicates the bargaining process. I’m concerned that if employers are required to start bargaining they will just be reluctant to make ­concessions”.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said the changes effectively prevented the commission resolving an enterprise bargaining dispute “in a way that delivers an outcome that is in some way less favourable than the current … agreement”.

“This has the potential to fundamentally undermine the way enterprise bargaining operates,” Mr Willox said. “Employers may as well give up on seeking to address our abysmal productivity performance or modernise working arrangements if the amendments are made.”

The government has signalled it will make amendments to its bill to win over Senate crossbenchers.

Asked if the government was open to changing the bargaining provisions, Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke said: “We don’t yet have agreement from a majority of senators. Conversations are constructive and are being conducted in good faith.”