EMPLOYERS should be able to recruit unemployed workers from previous business entities and not be bound by their former employer’s industrial agreements, huge payments should not be required to settle frivolous unfair dismissal claims, and people should be able to lodge their own individual non-union agreements with the national industrial relations (IR) tribunal.
These are just three areas that will improve both business and employment prospects in 2018 and beyond, says Australian Resources and Energy Group AMMA.
“Australia is not immune to global competitive pressures, and the rate of change is rapid and unrelenting. We need a workplace relations system fit for the 21st Century and that will support new and better jobs within a strong economy,” Steve Knott, AMMA Chief Executive, said.
“Currently there is a gaping hole in the national policy debate happily being filled by the ACTU’s extreme left campaign, completely devoid of facts and sensibility. It’s unsurprising that some IR commentators are falling for the ACTU’s pea and thimble trick and saying ‘the current laws aren’t broken’.
“Today’s latest page from the ACTU’s Karl Marx playbook is their plan to hand the keys to every Australian business, and the millions of jobs they support, to members of the ‘Old IR Club’.
“Placing IR tribunal members, the overwhelming majority of whom have never run a business, at the front and centre of management decisions is a sure way to scare off much-needed investment in our country.
“AMMA notes the Fair Work Commission (FWC) was setup by the former Rudd/Gillard Government to administer ALP laws ghost-written by ACTU bosses. The FWC President is an ex-ACTU boss, its two vice presidents are ALP appointees – one a former ALP federal candidate – and its General Manager is an ex-union official.
“It’s no surprise the ACTU’s left-activist leader wants the FWC, with ALP/union influences at the apex of its leadership, to be given unprecedented powers to make decisions on behalf of business owners.
“We call on business and the broader workplace relations community to ignore this predictable, boring narrative and instead debate future-focused ideas for workplace reform, including:
- Fixing ridiculous ‘transfer of business’ laws which force employers, when taking over a commercial contract, to retain old and often outdated legacy terms and conditions if they employ any of the former entity’s workers, without regard to current business conditions.
- Restoring fairness to dismissal laws, when employers, including small and medium business owners, are paying tens of thousands of dollars and sometimes more, to defend or settle frivolous unfair dismissal claims.
- Allow individuals to reach workplace agreements on their own behalf, without interference by unions, where they are clearly better off than statutory minimum entitlements.”
Read Steve Knott’s response to key elements of the ACTU’s “Change the Rules” campaign here.
Click here for a PDF of this release.
MEDIA CONTACT: Tom Reid, 0419 153 407.
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