Labor in bid to wind back employers’ power

    The Australian
    May 19, 2017


Federal Labor will seek to wind back the bargaining power of ­employers by restricting their ability to tear up pay deals when locked in disputes with unions.   

In a speech to be delivered today, opposition workplace relations spokesman Brendan O’Connor will announce a Labor government would seek to change the Fair Work Act to ­reduce the capacity of companies to terminate agreements and put workers back on reduced award conditions.

Aurizon, Esso Australia and AGL are among companies that have recently used the tactic in disputes with unions.

Mr O’Connor said Labor was concerned the Fair Work Commission’s termination of agreements gave employers a powerful weapon in their bargaining ­arsenal.

“Labor is very concerned that this has tipped the negotiating balance too far in the favour of employers,’’ he said.

“We are looking at how the Fair Work Act might be changed so that rather than resorting to the nuclear option of terminating agreements when negotiations fail, the system works to assist the parties to come to a resolution, and to do so on a level playing field.”

He said it had “become too easy, and too common” for employers to apply successfully to the commission to terminate agreements that had passed their nominal expiry date.

He said Labor was also very concerned some employers continue to subject their employees to legacy WorkChoices agreements, and their sub-award terms and conditions of employment.   

whiteknight wrote on May 19^th, 2017 at 12:52pm:


Another unfortunate symptom of declining real wages. Labor would be far better off looking at why wages growth performance is poor and come up with solutions. Stomping on employers under market pressure is a sure fire way to kick unemployment along.

crocodile wrote on May 19^th, 2017 at 1:09pm:

A Job Guarantee would do a lot to fix the problem of unemployment and declining wages and also reduce spending on compliance measures and social security.