Business groups have slammed the nation’s new industrial relations laws, which they say will weaken the economy and negatively impact productivity.
Business groups have slammed the nation’s new industrial relations laws, which they say will weaken the economy and negatively impact productivity.
The second tranche of the contentious Closing Loopholes legislation passed the Senate today, allowing employees to ignore work communications after hours and offering casual staff an easier path to convert to full-time work.
The changes also set minimum standards for conditions and pay in the gig economy.
The passage of the legislation through the Senate has been lauded by supporters and union groups, but business groups are less convinced.
Minerals Council of Australia chief executive Tania Constable labelled the legislation “a deliberate blow to investment, employment and productivity”, which she claimed had passed without proper Senate scrutiny.
The legislation was passed after Labor reached deals with the crossbench and the Greens on amendments relating to the ‘right to disconnect’.
“The extensive changes to workplace law will make it more difficult and more costly to do business in Australia, with households ultimately bearing the cost,” Ms Constable said.
“This legislation delivers extensive and unprecedented new powers to unions, whilst harming Australia’s most productive industries and increasing the burden of the nation’s already struggling small businesses.
“It is a shameful trade-off.”
The right-to-disconnect law allows staff to disregard communications from their employer outside of work hours, with some exceptions.
The criteria for what constitutes reasonable contact factors in the reasons for the contact, the means of contact, the level of pay for after-hours work and the nature of the work.
The disconnect measures were introduced as a result of a proposal by the Greens and were not part of the Bill when a series of Senate committee hearings were held across the nation late last year.
A statement issued yesterday signed by representatives of the nation’s business chambers warned that the passage would bind business in red tape.
Concerns were raised earlier in the week over the potential impacts of the measure on business between the west and east coast – a factor highlighted by ABN Group founder Dale Alcock at an industry event today.
Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black said today the legislation was anti-business, despite changes secured by the crossbench – including a measure that allows bosses to refuse a casual’s conversion to permanent on certain grounds – which he said made a “bad bill slightly less bad”.
“We remain opposed to the Bill as a whole because it adds complexity, cost and red tape at the worst possible time, making it harder to do business and hire staff, and negatively impacting jobs and our economy,” he said.
“The government’s anti-business industrial relations policies have united Australia’s major employer groups to work together and we will continue to advocate against policies that negatively impact businesses and workers, and which ultimately drive down our prosperity.”
