Labor strikes deal with David Pocock to pass IR laws

Labor’s landmark industrial relations changes will become law after Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke struck a deal with independent senator David Pocock that will lead to an annual independent review of JobSeeker, as well as stronger protections for small and medium-sized businesses.

The Greens have also struck a deal with Burke to safeguard the better-off-overall test, known as the BOOT, and an enforceable right for parents to request unpaid parental leave.

Burke announced the deal on ABC’s Insiders on Sunday morning after meeting Pocock – whose vote is crucial to the bill’s passage – late into Saturday evening.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the workplace deal was a “huge day for working people”.

“This is a sensible proposition and Labor has been prepared to sit down with business, with unions, with the crossbench, with civil society, to work through the legislation to ensure that any improvements that had been offered have been taken up,” he said.

The federal opposition, Australian Chamber of Commerce, the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Industry Group and the Minerals Council all immediately criticised the deal, suggesting the likelihood of strikes would increase and the changes represented an economic risk.

But the Australian Council of Trade Unions said the deal would give working people hope that better pay rises were on the way, while the Australian Council of Social Services chief executive Cassandra Goldie hailed the creation of an independent panel examining welfare payments as “a game-changer” that should create a clear pathway to securing adequate income support payments.

The prime minister said the creation of the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee was consistent with Labor’s promise to “always give consideration to what we can do for those people who are doing it tough”.

He stopped short of promising government payments would rise before the next budget in May.

Burke said the deal with Pocock covered three issues, one regarding the size of businesses that can be pulled into multi-employer bargaining, another regarding which occupations can participate in the low-paid bargaining stream, and the third regarding people in the social security system.

Senator David Pocock negotiated an annual independent review of JobSeeker in return for his support of the IR bill.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Labor will adopt the recommendation of a parliamentary inquiry to raise the definition of a small business that can be excluded from multi-employer bargaining from 15 to 20 employees. It will also be easier for a business with 50 employees or fewer to opt out of multi-employer bargaining by putting the onus on unions to make the case for why that business should be included.

The new advisory committee will be set up to provide specific advice, weeks before the federal budget is handed down each year, on the adequacy of government payments such as JobSeeker.

Burke confirmed the lower house will sit next Saturday, rather than an extra day on Friday, to pass laws that will be amended by the Senate.

Labor’s concessions on IR

• Raise the definition of a small business, which can be excluded from multi-employer bargaining, from 15 to 20 employees. 
• Make it easier for a business with 50 employees or fewer to opt out of multi-employer bargaining by putting the onus on unions to make the case for why that business should be included.
• Give the minister power to designate which occupations are able to participate in the low-paid bargaining stream.
• Set up an Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee to examine the adequacy of income support payments ahead of each federal budget. 
• Preserving the better-off-overall test, or “BOOT”, which ensures no employee goes backwards in new deals.
• Include an enforceable right for parents to request unpaid parental leave.
• An undertaking to review the bill in two years’ time.

Pocock said it was his hope the advisory committee would create public pressure to raise JobSeeker and other support payments.

“They will publish their recommendations at least two weeks before the budget. So, there’ll be a level of transparency there and then government will have to make the case of why they are or aren’t taking those recommendations on board,” he said.

The ACT senator said the suite of changes to workplace laws struck the right balance between ensuring people started to receive “long-overdue wage rises, maintaining productivity and protecting the most vulnerable in our communities”.

“This is now a substantially different bill to the one introduced in the House of Representatives a month ago. It is better for business, better for workers and makes sure the most vulnerable in our community are no longer left behind,” he said.

“This legislation introduces significant reforms to Australia’s industrial relations system that will benefit women and low-paid workers in particular ... there are now additional safeguards in place for business, especially small businesses, and some important new powers to better protect the low paid and those reliant on government support.”

Greens leader Adam Bandt said the Greens strongly backed most of what was in this bill, including abolishing the construction industry watchdog, the ABCC, and multi-employer bargaining.

“This is an important win for all workers, especially low-paid workers in the retail and the hospitality industries. The Better Off Overall Test has been preserved,” Bandt said.

Multi-employer bargaining, which allows the majority of workers across many businesses to jointly force their employers to the bargaining table, has been the major sticking point of the laws.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said Australia now faced the prospect of more strikes and fewer jobs.

“There has been no modelling on any economic benefit of the legislation, only the vague hope that employers with an industrial gun to their head will pay more and somehow not pass costs onto consumers or reduce their headcount,” he said.

Other elements of the deal Pocock secured include a formal response to the 2018 Murray Review to better protect subcontractors’ payments, a review of the Secure Jobs Better Pay Bill in two years’ time, a review of modern awards, carving out the civil construction industry from multi-enterprise bargaining and easier access for firefighters to workers compensation for seven additional cancers.

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