‘Ready for action’: Government to forge ahead with multi-employer bargaining

The federal government will make it easier for workers to secure wage rises through multi-employer bargaining, and simplify the test that ensures workers are not left worse off under enterprise agreements.

Following extensive behind-the-scenes discussions with unions and business groups, Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke told the government’s jobs summit in Canberra it was “ready for action” on a raft of changes to the nation’s industrial relations system, which also included increased flexibility for parental leave.

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke says the government will begin immediate action to overhaul collective bargaining.Credit:James Brickwood

“We’ve gone from a situation where everybody’s in their corners throwing rocks to a situation where people are making a genuine effort to see how we can work together,” Burke told media after the announcement.

“The changes that have been worked through right now will make a real difference to business being able to employ people and people being able to make ends meet with decent pay rises into the future.”

The Australian Council of Trade Unions and Council of Small Business Organisations reached a deal this week to allow multi-employer bargaining, giving unions the ability to strike agreements for workers across a number of employers in the same industry. But other business heads had been critical it would limit workplace flexibility.

“The big shift we saw on the floor there from where the conversations had been at even a few days ago, is those different business groups have gone from railing against it, to saying effectively they want to see where the case is being made. That is a big shift in itself,” Burke said, adding meetings with his department would start next week.

Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox says business has significant concerns about multi-employer bargaining.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

But Australian Industry Group head Innes Willox said it was unclear how multi-employer bargaining, or bargaining on an industry-wide scale, would benefit employers.

“There are still significant issues around multi-party bargaining that employers have concerns around. There’s no detail around it,” he said, adding there would have to be an “enormous number” of checks and balances to protect employers.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar said people in low-income jobs already had the ability to enter into multi-employer agreements under a section of the Fair Work Act.

“The opportunity is there to make those sorts of agreements. Now I particularly would want to understand, is there a suggestion that something’s holding them back? What is that?” he said.

However, Burke said there was “enough of agreement on the concept of opening up to multi-employer bargaining that we’re willing to go forward on it,” he said.

“Everybody agrees that the current low-paid bargaining stream has failed and that proof that it’s failed is how rarely it’s been used,” he said, adding that whether the existing law would be changed or something new created would be the subject of consultation.

The government has also committed to unravelling the complexity of the enterprise bargaining system, including by making the better off overall test (BOOT) “simple, flexible and fair”.

The BOOT guarantees that employees do not go backwards in enterprise bargaining negotiations, however, businesses have complained it is being too rigorously applied by the Fair Work Commission when ratifying pay agreements.

They want the test simplified by scrapping clauses to do with hypothetical scenarios and allowing the passage of agreements that have majority workforce backing.

ACTU secretary McManus said the BOOT needed to be revised to shed some of the complexity built up over time from its interpretation by Fair Work and the courts, meaning it took “months and months for agreements to be agreed to”.

“That just means months and months and months without any pay rises, so it’s a common interest for both of us to fix this,” she said.

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