Anthony Albanese IR laws to soften union-enforced employer deals on wages

The Albanian government has been forced to water down its effort to give unions the power to give wage increases to entire industries.

In the face of stiff and growing resistance from business and industry groups, Albanian Employment Minister Tony Burke has allowed workers to decide whether they want their workplace to participate in or opt out of general deals.

The most controversial part of the bill gives unions the power to force employers to make one deal for employees at multiple companies in low-paid occupations such as hospitality, childcare and cleaning.

The Albanian government is trying to pass laws that will affect the wages and conditions of people in the lowest-paid sectors of the economy, such as childcare (general view)

Mr Burke made a concession to business on Sunday, saying that a majority of workers under any employer must agree to participate in the “single stream” of negotiations and if this does not happen, companies will opt out.

The main concern of bosses was that medium-sized companies would be forced to offer the same wages and conditions as multinationals, although a company must exceed a certain threshold to be included.

This could mean that an owner with a few burger joints would have to offer the same deal to employees as McDonald’s.

Mr Burke also indicated that the government is considering a six-month grace period before employers in a sector can become part of a collective agreement.

Labor Relations Secretary Tony Burke has indicated that the bill will be amended to allow workers in any workplace to decide whether to join a blanket deal struck by a union

The agreements are supported by the right to strike as long as certain measures are complied with.

The business community is pushing for a 12-month waiting period before the bill comes into full effect.

“We’re considering there’s a number of concepts going back and forth between us and the corporate world right now, not for a 12-month thing, but for six months,” Burke told Sky News on Sunday.

The business community was so opposed to the threat of having general union-enforced agreements that they threatened to launch a major publicity campaign against them.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took a defiant tone when asked about the threat of some business groups to campaign against the new laws

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took a defiant stance while speaking to reporters on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

“I do notice that there is a credibility problem when companies say we have a lot of money to run a campaign, but we don’t have money to pay employees better,” he said.

“The government I lead wants to see wages go up, living standards to improve.”

The opposition claimed the Labor bill would lead to strikes and job losses.

Nationals leader David Littleproud said payroll matters should simply be left to the independent arbiter, the Fair Work Commission.

“We think this is the best mechanism for making those decisions happen, rather than giving more power to the unions and veto rights,” he said.

“I understand the ideology, Labor is very much attuned to that, but at the end of life someone has to pay and that ultimately means the Australian taxpayer will pay…that’s why businesses are concerned.”

The announced changes to the bill drew little attention from Labor’s side of the political fence.

Senator David Pocock will be pivotal voice in passing laws and believes they are ‘rushed’

Peak union body the ACTU said the system became more complex and more likely to thwart wage increases if each workplace voted on whether or not to participate in collective bargaining.

An important vote that the Albanian government will rely on to get the laws through the Senate also needs more persuasion.

Independent ACT Senator David Pocock, who needs to be convinced to guarantee the numbers, said the new amendments didn’t go far enough.

He also felt that the bill contained too many new laws and that it should be split in half to allow for a more thorough and detailed elaboration of what the implications were likely to be.

Senator Pocock said he didn’t want to “get in the way” of low-paid workers getting a raise, but the bill was “rushed” and he only recently saw details of it.

“It’s a huge omnibus law that aims to do a lot,” he said.

‘The Senate is there to ensure that bills are properly monitored and that is my primary concern with this bill: the lack of time for review and consultation.’