Bargaining matters: a Federal election and a growing log of claims

The key reforms that employers and employer groups are calling for the Liberal Party to review are aimed at pulling back the rights of unions, ‘levelling’ the bargaining playing field.

Many employer groups remained hopeful that the Coalition would look to remove the new multi-employer bargaining regime which can compel employers to bargain against their will (as was recently ordered for several mining companies in New South Wales).

However, while campaigning in the Western Australian mining region, the Liberal Party leader, Peter Dutton, confirmed that both the multi-employer bargaining and ‘same job, same pay’ regime would not be repealed by the Coalition. These sentiments come as a shock to many, particularly in light of the Liberal Party’s previous vocal opposition to the reforms.

The arguments put against the multi-employer bargaining regime are that, alongside other tools that are now available to unions (such as ‘same job, same pay’ applications): productivity is down while the cost of wages and rigidity of the bargaining framework remain high.

However, the Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Michaelia Cash, continues to make her views on the CFMEU (and the Labor party’s alignment with the union) well known.

The Liberal Party’s IR agenda, otherwise, remains either minimal or unreleased. This raises the question, is the Coalition trying to distance itself from the Labor Party’s IR reforms or align with it?

While we are not expecting to see a Dutton-led Coalition government rewrite the Fair Work Act, it is likely that, if elected, it will focus itself on increasing productivity – something that will lend itself to a more forensic look at the bargaining landscape as it currently stands. This will be a challenge. That word – productivity – is often linked to cutting working entitlements and job security.   

The last election demonstrated the rising power of independent MPs and crossbench Senators – particularly Senators David Pocock and Jacquie Lambie. Perhaps that is why bargaining has largely been left off the table so far.

If the last election was a sign of things to come, it could be that any newly formed government will need to ensure that its log of claims matches those of some independent players.