“Drag them against their will”: Chambers of commerce launch last-ditch ad campaign to postpone IR bill

Australian business lobbyists have launched a last-ditch attempt to convince lawmakers to split, postpone, or abandon Labor government’s contentious industrial relations bill, saying the legislation could “drag” businesses into multi-employer bargaining “against their will” and put jobs at risk.

With just two sitting weeks left before the Christmas break, crossbench senators, including independent Senator David Pocock, are in a position to make or break a major suite of industrial relations reforms recently put forward by the Labor government.

Pocock has signalled his wish for more time to meet with small business stakeholders to discuss the ramifications of the reforms, which include major updates to the multi-employer bargaining system — which could expose thousands of workers and small employers to the enterprise bargaining system for the first time.

The ACT senator has also proposed the idea of splitting the bill into separate pieces, allowing the passage of less-controversial bargaining updates for low-paid workers to pass while leaving single-interest stream reforms up for debate.

Although Labor agreed to a suite of amendments as the bill passed in the Lower House, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Tony Burke has stood firm against splitting the bill and hopes the package will pass before the Christmas break.

Doing so would undermine the goal of advancing wage growth across the economy, the government argues.

In a new campaign, including advertisements in The Australian, the influential Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) says senators should focus on two options: splitting the bill so simpler reforms can be passed this year, or abandoning the package entirely.

Some leeway exists for the Senate to vote on adding further sitting days before the Christmas break, although such a development is not assured.

“The time allotted to consider this complex bill is absurdly short,” according to a statement signed by ACCI CEO Andrew McKellar and the chiefs of each state and territory chamber.

“We call on the Senate to split the bill to allow further time for careful examination of business’ concerns,” the group added.

“Failing this, we urge the Senate to oppose the bill.”

Single-interest stream an ongoing concern for business groups

For business representatives including ACCI itself, planned reforms to the single-interest multi-employer bargaining stream are of utmost concern.

The reform package aims to simplify access to the single-interest bargaining stream, which covers agreements struck between workers and two or more companies in a joint venture or common enterprise.

Under the reforms, businesses could be shuffled into single-interest multi-employer arrangements if they are geographically close, or if their operations involve similar work or conditions.

Amendments to the bill mean employers and their workforces won’t be compelled to join such an arrangement if they have agreed to bargain among themselves, and the Fair Work Commission would be empowered to exclude businesses with a track record of effective, good-faith bargaining with their workers.

Yet the bill remains contentious as it would cover all businesses with greater than 15 employees, putting many SMEs with headcounts of 16 and above within the scope of an expanded single-interest bargaining stream.

“Changes to multi-employer bargaining will drag them against their will into a complex system they cannot afford,” ACCI said.

The package in its current form will “make it harder for businesses to keep Australians in jobs — and make it harder to create more”, ACCI added.