Liberal MP calls for employers to put IR back on the agenda

The Coalition seems to be softening its commitment to a ceasefire on industrial relations, with new Victorian Liberal MP Josh Frydenberg calling on “fair-minded employers, employees and industry participants” to push for change.

Frydenberg has told Parliament that Labor’s Fair Work Act has been “taking our economy in only one direction: higher wages and lower productivity.”

“Such a combination of higher wages and lower productivity is unsustainable for the Australian economy in the longer term,” Frydenberg said.

Drawing attention to a deal between Thiess and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union on the multibillion-dollar desalination plant in Victoria, Frydenberg argued that employers, particularly in the construction, energy and mining sectors, have “no practical choice but to reach agreements with unions who are unwilling to consider links to productivity gains being written in.”

”With workers at Wonthaggi receiving $50 an hour more than their compatriots across the state, the unions see this agreement as the new benchmark, not an isolated case,” he says.

Industrial relations lawyer Peter Vitale agrees there are aspects of Fair Work that need “fine-tuning”.

“I think there’s some momentum for the Coalition to do more on industrial relations, particularly when economic indicators suggest that there’s a risk of wage pressure being put on the economy,” Vitale says.

“And there is a relative amount of clarity about which areas are problematic from an employer’s perspective, and I guess it’s a question of whether or not the Opposition is doing to tackle it, and how far they’ll go if they do.”

Vitale says Frydenberg’s comments likely reflect growing disquiet among Coalition MPs about the party’s “do-nothing” policy.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott famously declared the Howard Government’s controversial IR package, Work Choices, “dead, buried and cremated.”

Vitale says if the Coalition shifts its focus towards industrial relations, tweaking of the Fair Work Act rather than wholesale changes or a return of Work Choices is likely.

“They might look at tinkering around the edges of unfair dismissal, particularly in relation to small business,” Vitale says.

“They may also endeavour to tackle adverse action claims in a similar vein.”

“Whether they get stuck into the rules around enterprise bargaining or union rights of entry are separate issues I think, and I’d be very surprised if they made any attempt to make any kind of fundamental change to the modern award system.”