ELECTION 2010: Business wants IR changes but Abbott says no

Business groups say they are disappointed with Opposition Tony Abbott’s announcement that he will not make major changes to the Labor Government’s Fair Work industrial relations regime, but says they will continue to push for tweaks to the system.

While Abbott appeared on Melbourne radio this morning to sign a contract promising not to revive the Howard Government’s Work Choice regime, business lobby groups including the Australian Industry Group, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Council of Small Business Organisations will continue to push for changes.

COSBOA chief executive Peter Strong says Abbott’s announcement was disappointing, but said the Opposition leader did not have much choice if he wants to kill off talk about reviving Work Choices.

Strong says COSBOA would like to particularly see changes made to unfair dismissal rules for micro businesses and also wants the Government to consider the introduction of a special award for small businesses.

Neither of these suggestions look likely to win the support of the Coalition.

In an interview with Melbourne radio station 3AW, Abbott again declared Work Choices was “dead and buried”.

However, the door might not be completely shut. Opposition workplace spokesman Eric Abetz said the Coalition would consider “tweaking” the IR laws, while Abbott admitted he could not give an “absolute guarantee” that there would not be changes.

“Obviously I can’t say that there will never ever, for 100 or 1,000 years time, be any change to any aspect of industrial legislation. But the Fair Work Act will not be amended in the next term of government if we are in power.”

” I mean, Work Choices, it’s dead, it’s buried, it’s cremated now and forever. But obviously I can’t give an absolute guarantee about every single aspect of workplace relations legislation. But Work Choices is gone now and forever.”

Abbott’s contact won’t stop business groups pushing for change and Australian Industry Group chief executive Heather Ridout was quick to get on the front foot following Abbott’s initial announcement over the weekend.

“There are areas in the Fair Work Act where it has been demonstrably shown that amendments are required,” she said.

“While we are not seeking wholesale changes the next government will need to keep an open mind to amending the act in a number of areas.”

At the top of the list for the AIG and the ACCI is the Government’s plan to increase the compulsory superannuation guarantee paid by employers on behalf of their employees by 9% to 12%.

The ACCI wants the Government to consult further on the matter, while the AIG is pushing for the super increases to be considered as part of minimum wage decisions.

“During each Annual Wage Review between 2013 and 2020 (the period of time over which the SG increase will be phased-in through 0.25% instalments), Fair Work Australia should be required to determine the level of wage increase that is appropriate and then discount that increase by 0.25%.”

The AIG is also worried about how individual flexibility arrangements are functioning. The arrangements are supposed to allow employers and employees to some sort of side agreements in terms of flexible work hours, but the AIG says they are not working.

“Unions are routinely refusing to sign agreements unless the flexibility term allows little or no flexibility. A specific flexibility term should be set out in the Act and deemed to be a term of all enterprise agreements,” Ridout said.