Yesterday the Coalition released its policy to improve fair work laws, saying a large swathe of further changes proposed would have to wait until a productivity commission review into industrial relations was completed.
It said it would seek a mandate for any changes stemming from the review at a federal election.
Under the plan major greenfield agreements are in for a shake-up, with employers who are unable to come to an agreement with unions on conditions within three months able to bypass unions altogether and head for the Fair Work Commission to get an agreement in place.
The changes would also usher in the return of the Howard-era Australian Building and Construction Commission, with an extended policing role which would also include offshore projects.
The policy also emphasises the importance of flexibility of individual agreements but, much to the chagrin of those yearning for a return to Australian Workplace Agreements, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said the Coalition would leave penalty rates and unfair dismissal rules alone.
The Australian Labor party has already seized on the Coalition’s pledge to put individual contracts at the front and centre of its policy as a return to Work Choices, despite its commitment to leave penalty rates and unfair dismissal laws intact.
Predictably, unions have also slammed the Coalition policy as a move to the bad old days.
“Workers do not want to see a return to Workchoices-style individual agreements – regardless of what the Coalition wants to call them,” Australian Council of Trade Unions president Ged Kearney said.
“This is an attempt to put individual contracts back at the centre of our industrial relations system and undermine the ability of workers to negotiate collectively. It will make it easier for employers to dictate terms and conditions to workers.”
Meanwhile, the Coalition said it would also review right to entry laws as a key plank of the reforms.
Key industry employer group AMMA said the proposals were a step in the right direction, especially proposals which would take power away from unions.
“AMMA welcomes the return of a tough cop to the beat through the restoration of the ABCC, which will address the completely unacceptable union militancy in the construction industry,” AMMA executive director Scott Barklamb said.
He said the group also welcomed changes to greenfield project laws but much more work needed to be done.
“It is in our national interest to develop a workplace relations framework that allows Australia to sustain the benefits coming from the enormous growth within our resource industry,” Barklamb said.
“The Coalition policy is a step in the right direction but we would like the reforms to have gone further and more comprehensively addressed the triple threat to our international competitiveness – unsustainable wage escalations, a combative labour environment and declining productivity.”
