Coalition reconciled to demise of AWAs

Julie Bishop; Pic by: Ray Strange

The Coalition has acquiesced to the demise of Australian Workplace Agreements, finding no reason to modify the Rudd Government's first industrial relations bill.

And employers hoping to beat the end of the system have hit a bureaucratic quagmire with new figures suggesting that outstanding deals might take up to 8 1/2months to approve.

The new Labor laws, which begin dismantling many of the Howard government's changes, including the 2005 Work Choices law, may be passed in the coming days after the report by a Senate inquiry yesterday.

As revealed in The Australian yesterday, Labor senators have highlighted some issues that may need changes, including contradictions in the instructions to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission on rewriting awards. The Labor senators noted evidence that converting up to 4000 awards into a set of simpler, modern awards underpinning all workers was a difficult task.

In addition, requiring that any new award not disadvantage a worker or add to an employer's cost was too broad a demand and threatened to derail the process.

"It was pointed out that it is not possible to standardise conditions without disadvantaging someone," the senators said.

But The Australian understands the Rudd Government has indicated to its backbenchers it would consider modifying the instructions to the AIRC if the process became too difficult.

Opposition employment, business and workplace relations spokeswoman Julie Bishop said Labor's plans were not holding up to scrutiny.

"One of the minister's own Labor colleagues, Senator (Gavin) Marshall, suggested last week that the ALP plan for award modernisation without disadvantaging workers or increasing employers' costs was 'contradictory and an impossible ask'," she said.

But while the Coalition senators had other concerns about the bill, they did not offer a contrary position to the committee's finding that that bill should be passed.
The House of Representatives passed the new legislation on the voices and without dissent.

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard told parliament that as of last month, 298,524 agreements had been lodged for assessment with 160,154 of them finalised and 138,000 waiting for approval.

"At the average rate of processing countenanced by the Howard government, processing this backlog would take eight months; eight months where employers and working Australians would have no idea whether or not the agreement that they were working under was lawful," she said.

"If you were told it has failed eight months after it has been made, then that quantum of back pay could break a small business.

"That is the shambles that was Work Choices, brought to this country by the Liberal Party of Australia."

The Australian, Mar 18, 2008