Fed: Jobless will rise unless IR bill amended - employers
By Kate Hannon, National Political Editor14 Jan 2009 4:52 PM
CANBERRA, Jan 14 AAP - Unemployment will rise unless there are significant changes to the proposed new industrial laws, a key employer group has warned.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) wants the government to make major amendments to its Fair Work Bill, which is now before a Senate committee.
The release on Thursday of the December labour force figures will give the indication for the year of the impact on the jobs market of the global financial crisis.
Australia's unemployment rate rose 0.1 per cent in November to 4.4 per cent and is predicted to rise again.
ACCI chief executive Peter Anderson said without significant changes to the Fair Work bill in 10 key areas, productivity will fall, business costs will increase and jobs will be threatened.
Mr Anderson has also said the bill represents a major overhaul of industrial relations rules at a time of growing economic instability.
"Our assessment of the laws is that they will impact negatively on the employment market unless the laws are significantly amended, that means adding to unemployment," Mr Anderson told reporters on Wednesday.
He said a "sleeper" in the laws were the proposed new powers of the new industrial tribunal, Fair Work Australia, and new rules which would make it easier for unions to be involved in wage bargaining.
ACCI has joined other employer groups who have warned in their submissions to the inquiry that the laws tip the balance too far towards unions, while the ACTU says they do not go far enough.
But a submission to the inquiry from the government's own Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, disputes the potential impact of the laws on jobs and productivity.
It said recent forecasts from the OECD and the government's own Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook for rising unemployment were consistent with international and national evidence of the slowing in economic growth.
"The forecast rise in unemployment is in no way attributed to workplace relations reform," the department said in its submission released on Wednesday.
The Master Builders Association of Australia (MBA) is also seeking 37 amendments to the bill, which it says has many good elements but which also contains others that will make agreement-making more complex, potentially affecting jobs.
"In some areas we consider it too favourable to unions' interests and thus likely to lead to a revival of unwarranted union power that has the potential to increase levels of industrial disputation," the MBA says.
The ACTU has called on the federal opposition to support the bill in the Senate.
The Senate committee inquiry into the bill has published 74 submissions on its website and will hold public hearings in all capital cities except Darwin starting later this month.
The committee is due to report to Parliament on February 27.
