Scott Morrison’s silence on job policies alarms unions

The ACTU says Scott Morrison has been silent on what a re-elected Coalition government will do to workers’ rights.

ACTU Secretary Sally McManus. Picture: Colin Murty

ACTU secretary Sally McManus has acknowledged preference deals have improved the ­Coalition’s chances of winning the election, warning Scott Morrison would lead the “most extreme” government in the nation’s history if he were re-elected.

Ms McManus said yesterday the election would “be close, especiall­y now Scott Morrison and his partners in the National Party have done deals with One Nation and Clive Palmer”.

“If Scott Morrison scrapes through to win the election, it will be the most extreme-right, chaotic and racist government we have ever had,” she said on social media.

In comments to The Australian, Ms McManus said the Prime Ministe­r was “totally silent” on what a re-elected Coalition government would do to workers’ rights.

“Whenever the Liberals have been given a chance, they have ­attacked workers’ rights, yet they have not even announced their IR policy,” she said.

“Will they wind back unfair-dismissal laws? Will they allow more jobs to be casualised? Will they allow more workers to have their penalty rates cut? Will it be WorkChoices Mark II?”

The Coalition is yet to announc­e any significant workplace policy proposals in the election campaign, instead attacking Labor’s suite of policies as a “radical” industrial relations agenda.

Jobs and Industrial Relations Minister Kelly O’Dwyer has commit­ted a re-elected Coalition government to trying to pass a bill before parliament that would lower the threshold for courts to deregister a union, permit courts to disqualify union officials if they commit two civil-law breaches and subject union mergers to a public-interest test.

It would also press ahead with a bill that seeks to weaken the financial position of unions by imposing regulatory controls on worker ­entitlement funds, denying unions an estimated $25 million a year.

Ms O’Dwyer said the ­Coalition would continue to seek to legislate the right for casual workers to seek permanency after 12 months of regular and continuous employment.

Unions have criticised the ­Coalition bill, which has not been voted on by the Senate, saying it ­allowed employers to arbitrarily determine whether a worker was a casual rather than applying an objectiv­e test of casual work.

The Coalition opposes Labor’s plans to reverse penalty rate cuts, and supports the retention of the Australian Building and Construction Commission and the Registered Organisations Commission.

“Labor has embraced Sally McManus’s radical agenda that would put jobs and small business at risk,’’ Ms O’Dwyer said. “Not only will (she) continue to encourage people to break the law, she will become the decision-maker on industrial relations laws.”

Ms McManus said “the only policy agenda made public is by the Institute of Public Affairs, which includes horrific, extreme ideas that would take our country backwards … The last time the IPA issued a manifesto, the current government implemented or tried to implement a third of it.

“This time they want Scott Morrison to repeal the entire Fair Work Act, which would abolish unfair dismissal protections, minimum wages and most of the rights working people have fought for over the last two centuries.

“We know he spent years trying to give the big banks a $17 billion handout … We know he voted to protect the big banks from scrutin­y 26 times.

“What we don’t know is what he plans to do next.”