24 July 2013
PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd must get his head out of the sand and stop denying that the Labor Government’s workplace relations laws have a negative impact on productivity in this country, says national resource industry employer group AREEA.
Mr Rudd is reportedly meeting with the ACTU and a business group today to discuss productivity, but workplace relations appears to have again been left off the agenda.
“The business community agrees that innovation, training and good management are important to productivity, but the government cannot pretend that Australia’s workplace system is not also a significant part of the productivity equation,” says AREEA chief executive Steve Knott.
“The overwhelming evidence is that Australia’s workplace relations system is a major challenge for doing business, creating jobs and attracting investment in this country. Ongoing research by AREEA and AiG are just two recent examples of evidence that cannot continue to be ignored.
“Acknowledging the importance of competitiveness and productivity is not enough. If the Prime Minister keeps his head in the sand on the problems with our workplace relations system during these increasingly turbulent economic times, he will do so at Australia’s peril.
“Major resource industry construction projects approved before Labor’s mining and carbon taxes and Labor’s re-regulation of workplace relations are now coming to an end. Investment is being pulled for new projects that just a short time ago would have been approved, while every week there is more bad news about job losses.
“The problems in our workplace system are a significant part of this decision making, yet serious discussion about workplace policies is off the table. Our country has developed a high cost and low productivity operating environment.”
In a recent letter sent to the Prime Minister on productivity, AREEA notes the World Economic Forum ranks Australia in the global top 10 on innovation, technology and corporate governance.
However we rank a dismal 42nd globally on labour efficiency.
Every workplace relations change made by Labor has focused on entrenching unions in Australian workplaces, despite representing just 13% of the private sector workforce. Such changes include:
- The union monopoly on new project agreement making;
- Union site entry laws including employer subsidies for transport and accommodation at remote and offshore projects, and opening employee lunch rooms for union recruitment activities; &
- Allowing unions to bargain and strike on an expanded range of issues, including those not related to the employment relationship, business efficiency and effectiveness.
“Australia already punches above its weight on innovation, technology and education. While we should always aim higher, it is clear the biggest barrier to lifting our productivity is an increasingly regressive and inflexible workplace system,” Mr Knott says.
“Employers are not interested in a talkfest with a handful of union and business leaders, all dressed up for the media as a ‘pact’ or ‘agenda’; they are looking for a professional responsive government that will put its sectional interests aside and deliver the right policy mix for economic and employment growth.”
· Allowing unions to bargain and strike on an expanded range of issues, including those not related to the employment relationship, business efficiency and effectiveness.
