The Australian Labor Party (ALP) has released its industrial relations policies that many expect it will take to the next Federal Election.

Branded as ‘Labor’s Secure Australian Jobs Plan’, Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese (pictured) unveiled the policies at a media event in Brisbane last week, pledging to (in his words):

• Make job security an object of the Fair Work Act 2009 so that it becomes a core focus for the Fair Work Commission’s decisions;
• Extend the powers of the Fair Work Commission to include “employee-like” forms of work, allowing it to better protect people in new forms of work, like app-based gig work, from exploitation and dangerous working conditions;
• Legislate a fair, objective test to determine when a worker can be classified as a casual so people have a clearer pathway to permanent work;
• Limit the number of consecutive fixed-term contracts an employer can offer for the same role, with an overall cap of 24 months;
• Ensure a Labor government is a model employer by creating more secure employment in the Australian Public Service where temporary forms of work are being used inappropriately; and
• Use government procurement powers to ensure taxpayers’ money is used to support secure employment.

Mr Albanese said Labor would also abolish the Registered Organisations Commission (ROC) and the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC), if elected.

Coalition responds to ALP’s policies

Responding to the ALP’s announcement, Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial relations Christian Porter (pictured) said the Opposition’s IR policy “could be a $20 billion tax on business”.

“Labor’s plan to require casual workers and contractors to be paid multiple leave entitlements and make those portable as they move from job to job represents a massive financial hit on business which will drive up the costs of employment, kill jobs and increase the costs of day-to-day goods and services,” he said.

“It’s clear what Anthony Albanese is saying he would do; what is totally unclear is how he will do it and who will pay for it.

“Either he is proposing that businesses are hit with a new tax of up to $20 billion after a pandemic and while recovering from the COVID-19 recession; or he is proposing to cut the pay of all casual workers by up to 25 per cent. These are the only two options.”

Mr Porter said the Opposition’s is offering “the most costly promise in the history of industrial relations in Australia with no detail and no analysis of the impacts”.

AREEA questions how the policies would create jobs

In a response from the resources and energy industry, AREEA said the Federal Opposition’s industrial relations policies contained significant new costs and regulation for Australian businesses, but little vision for encouraging investment and creating jobs during the nation’s post-pandemic recovery.

“The policies announced by Anthony Albanese were, disappointingly, a ‘rinse and repeat’ of the ALP / ACTU platform that failed to grab the attention of voters in 2019,” AREEA CEO Steve Knott said.

“There is a reason the obsession with so-called ‘insecure work’ didn’t cut through with the 90% of private sector employees who are not union members. It is an emotive term that is not reflective of what’s really going on in the labour market.

“ABS data clearly shows casual employment has remained consistent at around one-quarter of the labour force for decades. In fact, the proportion of employees who currently receive paid leave entitlements at work is at a historic high of 77%, up from 74.5% in 2016.

“In the resources and energy industry, 83% of employees are permanents and receive paid leave entitlements. While nobody wants to see people involuntarily locked into long-term casual employment, any claim this is rife in the resources sector or the broader Australian labour force is baseless.”

AREEA suggests that instead of grounding its IR policies in the baseless claim of ‘rising insecure work’, the Federal Opposition should ask itself the following questions:

• How could the ALP’s IR policies reduce the employment regulatory burden on employers to encourage job creation in the pandemic recovery period?
• How could the ALP restore faith in enterprise agreement making and speed up the Fair Work Commission’s approvals process to give employees their pay rises sooner?
• How could the ALP’s policies assist the resources and energy industry in securing the $334 billion of potential major project capital in its investment pipeline?
• How does the ALP propose to deal with small, medium and large Australian employers facing potential bankruptcy due to multi-billion-dollar ‘double dipping’ class action claims, brought about by judicial activism?

Speaking to the issue of casual employment and the controversy around claims for back-paid employee entitlements, Mr Knott said the Government’s IR reform bill carefully balance employer and employee considerations.

“Nobody is trying to deny fair payment to employees who are found to have been misclassified as casuals and owed back-paid entitlements. But the notion that employers should have to back-pay entitlements on top of casual loading already paid in lieu of those same entitlements, is ludicrous,” Mr Knott said.

“Employees should be fairly paid, and employers should not have to pay twice. The Government’s IR reform bill applies this ‘fair go all round’ principle whilst introducing new casual conversion rights to ensure employees are not locked into casual contracts when their work is permanent and ongoing.

“Importantly, it will protect small, medium and large Australian employers from up to $39 billion in contingent liability that, especially with the impacts of the pandemic, would see many close-up shop.

AREEA has provided comprehensive evidence to the Senate Committee Inquiry into the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill 2020. Read related story here.