“Chicken Littles…who squawk
and flap that Labor has a radical industrial relations plan
that will plunge Australia into the industrial dark ages as
the sky is brought crashing to the earth”.
Shadow Minister
for Workplace Relations Craig Emerson on the Coalition Government
“A pathetic retreat to the past”.
Prime Minister Howard on the ALP’s industrial relations
reforms
With campaigning in the Federal election to be held on 9 October
2004 in full swing, it has been evident the result may depend
on how the Australian public reacts to the differing industrial
relations policies put forward by the Coalition Government
and the ALP. All Australian employers ought to regard the issues
surrounding the future of industrial relations as crucial to
their continued operations. So what we can expect in the industrial
relations arena if the Coalition Government is elected for
its fourth term or if the ALP rise to power under PM Mark Latham?
Australian Industrial Relations Commission
The role of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission
(“the AIRC”) in playing ‘umpire’ in
industrial disputes may be greatly effected by the outcome
of the election.
The Coalition:
•
will seek to reduce the role the AIRC plays in industrial disputes;
•
will enact legislation so that certified agreements can exist
for a maximum of 5 years, rather than the current maximum of
3 years;
•
will continue to push to exempt small business employers from
the unfair dismissal regime; and
•
may scrap the industrial award system altogether and replace
it with a system of enterprise bargaining only, via certified
agreements or individual workplace agreements.
The ALP:
•
will seek to increase the role the AIRC plays in the industrial
relations arena by promoting rights to bargain collectively
(resulting in more certified agreements) and increasing the
AIRC’s power to arbitrate industrial disputes; and
•
will seek to abolish the current restrictions on what can be
contained in industrial awards, commonly referred to as the ‘allowable
award matters’.
Causal and Part-Time Employment
An employer’s ability to hire part-time and casual workers
may be significantly curtailed if the Coalition loses the election.
The Coalition:
•
will further encourage the use of casuals and part-timers,
maintaining that such flexible employment arrangement have
curbed strikes, stimulated productivity, lifted real wages
and created new jobs.
The ALP:
•
will introduce legislation to prevent “misuse” of
causal employment. The ALP argue that the Coalition Government’s
encouragement of casual labour has been an effort to undermine
wages and conditions and to camouflage real unemployment rates;
and
•
will empower the AIRC to allow long-term casuals to take up
permanent employment.
Australian Workplace Agreements
Australian Workplace Agreements (“AWAs”), the individual
agreements that exclude the terms of an industrial award, will
either become more widely used or otherwise be abolished altogether
depending on the outcome of the election.
The Coalition:
•
will streamline AWAs (presumably simplifying the approval process)
and further promote use of AWAs, particularly in the private
sector.
The ALP:
•
consistent with its promotion of collective bargaining (via
certified agreements), the ALP will introduce legislation to
abolish AWAs, as well as the government body that approves
AWAs, the Office of the Employment Advocate.
Worker Entitlements
As a result of a number of widely publicised corporate crashes
in the last decade, both major parties have recognised the
need to step in when an employer is unable to meet its obligations
to pay employee entitlements.
The Coalition:
•
will further promote the General Employee Entitlements and
Redundancy Scheme (“GEERS”) which provides up to
16 weeks’ pay (including 8 weeks’ redundancy pay)
where a business has insufficient assets available to pay the
statutory entitlements of its workers.
The ALP:
•
will abolish GEERS and introduce a national plan that guarantees
100% of employee entitlements, funded by a levy of 0.1% of
payroll for businesses with more than 20 employees.
Use of Contractors
Employers using independent contractors on a wide scale may
be forced to reconsider these arrangements post-election.
Under a Latham Government, contractors may be given some
of the benefits
enjoyed by employees, such as access to the AIRC, minimum
levels of remuneration and leave entitlements such as annual
leave
and sick leave. The Coalition has not released its policy
on this issue.
The Role of the Senate?
The Howard Government well knows the frustration associated
with the need to get the Senate’s approval to implement
legislative change. In the last few years we have seen a series
of Government bills defeated in the Senate because they have
not been supported by the Democrats, who have held the balance
of power.
Whichever party wins the Federal Election, their ability
to influence the industrial relations landscape may depend
on
the composition of the Senate. Early signs are of a Democrat
demise, leading to speculation that the Greens may hold
the balance of power. That will be bad news for a Coalition
Government
in particular. Watch this space.
