The Morrison Government is working to revive its anti-worker agenda as employer groups take advantage of the pandemic.
The big business lobby are pushing hard for a revival of the IR Omnibus Bill, which would have made drastic changes to enterprise bargaining. This is despite the worst of the Bill being opposed by the Greens, Labor and crossbench in the Senate, along with strong pressure from the public and unions, forcing the government to drop the entire legislation.
It seems as we get closer to the next federal election, big business is very keen to push for this anti-worker legislation to be pushed through the Parliament because they fear the Coalition could lose the next election.
There’s little doubt that we’re going to need the same effort this time around to defeat this legislation again because the attacks keep coming. The Morrison Government’s legislation is dangerous and extreme because it will:
- Allow employers to bring in agreements that do not meet the Better Off Overall Test (BOOT) – meaning they can include cuts to pay and conditions.
- Roll back penalties for wage theft in Victoria, Queensland and the ACT.
- Allow workers to be classed as casuals even when they have ongoing, regular hours.
- Give employers the ability to ask workers covered by awards including hospitality and retail to work at different locations or perform different duties, with no oversight from the Fair Work Commission.
- Strip overtime pay from part time workers in retail, hospitality and other awards.
- Double of the length of Greenfields agreements to eight years – leaving workers on large infrastructure projects with no ability to negotiate changes to workplace conditions like rosters or address OHS concerns.
Whether its workplace laws, superannuation or ensuring vulnerable workers get the support they need during a global pandemic, the Morrison Government always puts big business first. It always looks after the big end of town; just look at how they treat vulnerable people on welfare with robodebts versus how they let big business get away with not paying back JobKeeper payments they didn’t need.
We’ll let you know how you can best take action to help push back against this latest attempt to undermine your rights at work.
Not only does the Morrison Government want to undermine your rights at work, but they are also undermining your future retirement savings. The Morrison Government has successfully passed its changes to superannuation, which will have a significant impact on your future retirement savings.
These changes were never about making sure workers’ superannuation was maximised but to allow for dodgy, fee-charging, for-profit fund providers, often run by banks and insurance companies, easier access. This is despite the shocking revelations of the poor and unethical behaviour of Australia’s big banks and finance sector documented in the Royal Commission into Financial Services. It says a lot about how little the Morrison Government cares about your superannuation, your retirement or regulating the banking and finance sectors, or what is in the actual best interest of Australians.
