PORTER’S WORKPLACE AGREEMENT CHANGES WILL HURT WORKERS

The Morrison Government’s decision to slash the consultation period for changes to enterprise agreements will rob workers of an important safeguard that protects their pay and conditions.
 
Under this change – announced today without proper consultation with unions – employers will be able to tell their workers about changes one day and then conduct a vote on those changes the next.

In the real world this is what it will mean: someone will turn up to work in the morning and their boss will tell them they want to make changes to their pay and conditions. That person then does a full day’s work, turns up the next day and is expected to vote.

No time to properly consult with their colleagues. 

No time to consult with their unions.

No time to get professional advice at all.

And because the employer gets to determine the process, the vote could then be done by a show of hands.
 
There has been tremendous goodwill between unions and employer bodies during the coronavirus crisis. Why Christian Porter would seek to undermine that goodwill with this terrible decision is beyond belief.

Labor recognises the need to move quickly to vary awards during the coronavirus crisis in order to keep people in jobs when businesses are doing it tough. But this tips the balance too far in employers’ favour.

Negotiations between the Government, Labor and the unions over changes Parliament made to the Fair Work Act last week were also based on the principle that rule variations would only apply to businesses experiencing a serious downturn. 

Today’s announcement applies to any business. Even a business which is doing better in the current circumstances will be given the power to put cuts to pay and conditions to a vote within 24 hours of proposing the changes.

Just a few weeks ago the Government was insisting there were no unions and employers anymore – that we were all on Team Australia. Decisions like this suggest that was just empty rhetoric.

The Government should abandon this change.

THURSDAY, 16 APRIL 2020