Unions press Labor to overhaul IR bargaining laws

Anthony Albanese faces pressure on IR policy, unions declaring the Fair Work Act is broken as employers label the proposal a ‘job killer’.

ACTU Secretary Sally McManus. Picture: Getty Images

Major unions are pushing for more power to pursue multi-­employer and sector-wide pay claims to drive higher wages, declaring the current system is broken and hindering the ability of workers to earn more as the economy recovers.

Leaders of influential unions, including the United Workers Union, the Transport Workers Union and the CFMEU told The Weekend Australian they wanted Anthony Albanese to change the Fair Work Act to give unions greater capacity to engage in multi-employer and industry-wide bargaining if Labor won the federal election next year.

Employers have criticised the proposal as a “job killer” which, if granted, would mark a return to “large-scale” industrial action as the economy was beset with skills shortages and supply chain ­disruptions.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus said Labor and the Coalition needed to look at changes given the existing workplace laws were delivering record profits for ­employers while leaving workers behind. “Bargaining is how working people win pay rises,” she said. “Our current system was designed in the last century and is no longer fit for purpose or delivering the results that Australia needs.”

ABS data published this week showed wages lifted by 0.6 per cent over the three months to September, taking wages growth to 2.2 per cent over the year. The Reserve Bank expects wages growth will rise to 2.5 per cent next year and 3 per cent by the end of 2023.

United Workers Union national secretary Tim Kennedy urged Labor to undertake a root-and-branch review of the Fair Work Act if the ALP won next year’s election. He said collective bargaining had collapsed under the current laws and Labor had to commit to giving unions greater capacity to engage in multi-­employer and industry-wide bargaining.

“There are fundamental flaws with the system at the moment and we would want them to be able to reform that,” Mr Kennedy said. “You can’t do that by tinkering at the edges of the Fair Work Act. It would need a complete review; it can’t be rescued.

“The collective bargaining scheme in the Fair Work Act is finished. That period of time is done. It’s broken. It’s flawed. It’s beyond repair. It needs root-and-branch review.”

Transport Workers Union national secretary Michael Kaine said workers needed to be able to bargain across sectors and with the economic employer that held the purse strings.

“It’s hardly a revelation that the system is broken – responsible employers themselves are saying that, and the gig behemoths are being allowed to operate outside the law,” he said. “We don’t need a review to tell us that; we need a federal government to act no ­matter what its political hue.”

CFMEU construction division national secretary Dave Noonan said the system had passed its time and had allowed employers legally to frustrate workers’ ability to bargain collectively and obtain decent wage rises.

Dave Noonan. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

“That’s reflected in real wage stagnation and cuts we’ve seen over the past decade,” Mr Noonan said. “Even at times when the economy’s been strong, workers’ wages have struggled and, of course, there are patches when we’ve been able to bargain effectively – certainly areas of construction included – but, overall, it’s a system that’s failing working people. It’s not about higher wages for a few but higher pay for workers across the economy.”

Asked to comment on the union calls, Labor’s industrial relations spokesman Tony Burke said: “There have been calls for a long time from employers and unions to make enterprise bargaining simpler and fairer for everyone. The policies Labor has announced so far focus on providing secure jobs, better pay and a fairer system. These policies will make a fundamental difference in the lives of working families.

“Your rent or mortgage isn’t casual, your utility bills aren’t casual, your grocery and petrol bills aren’t casual. Labor will deliver the security Australians need.”

The ALP national platform says the Fair Work Act has not adequately facilitated multi-­employer collective bargaining.

“This is a particular issue for those industries where employees are low-paid and where they lack industrial power,” it says. “Labor will improve access to ­collective bargaining, including where appropriate through multi-employer collective bargaining.”

Tony Burke. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Mr Burke did not answer directly when asked whether Labor would commit to changing the bargaining laws; would ­implement the platform commitment on multi-employer bargaining; or would support the capacity of workers to engage in industry-wide bargaining.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said the union calls were “a laundry list of wish lists that would only serve as job killers across the economy as we emerge from Covid”. “If granted, it would see a return of large-scale industrial action and disputation at a time our economy is beset by labour and skills shortages and supply chain disruptions,” he said. “If this ever saw the light of day it would send Australia on the road to nowhere. The system needs repair but these proposals wouldn’t revive it; they would kill it.”

Innes Willox.

Industrial Relations Minister Michaelia Cash said the union calls showed who was directing Labor’s IR policy. “Just when the economy is ­recovering from Covid-19, the unions want to shut down entire industries at a time under their proposed model,” Senator Cash said. “We have already seen how this approach will impact Australians. Mass disruptions have been felt right across our ports and logistics networks … Despite these disruptions and delays that are hurting our economy, Labor has been silent. That is because we know the unions will be the ones setting industrial relations policy under any Labor government.”

Mr Noonan also said: “Labor has been quiet in a number of policy areas”.