Anthony Albanese has asked big business to help government on the journey to a “fair wage future” as it aims for consensus on major migration, skills and workplace relations reforms.
Albanese made the comment to the Business Council of Australia on Wednesday evening ahead of the two-day jobs and skills summit, at which unions are seeking to restore their bargaining power to seek industry-wide wage rises.
The prime minister noted the Australian Council of Trade Unions and business groups had been “taking it upon themselves to seek out common ground”, arguing it “shouldn’t be unusual” to see the unions or Labor working together with business.
Earlier, the Liberal leader, Peter Dutton, derided Thursday and Friday’s meeting as a “union summit”, warning Labor “may make decisions that will make a bad situation worse” including allowing “economy-wide strikes that will cripple small businesses”.
Albanese said the destination agreed by government, unions and business is “a strong growth, high productivity, fair wage future”. He promised “genuine engagement and substantial partnership”.
“The business community is central to our journey to the better future that was the theme of our campaign and the objective of our government,” he said.
The ACTU has agreed on the objective of full employment with the business council, and the ability to bargain with more than one employer at a time with the Council of Small Business Organisations.
Other employer groups – the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Australian Industry Group – fear this will give the Albanese government cover to push on with bargaining reforms they consider a dangerous “throwback” to industry-wide wage-setting.
On Wednesday the Labor chair of the Senate employment committee, Tony Sheldon, emphatically endorsed the union position, telling a pre-summit conference “multi-employer bargaining is the only way to protect and improve wages and conditions” in some sectors.
The comments go far further than workplace relations minister, Tony Burke, who has said only that he is “very interested” in the idea, which could help narrow the gender pay gap in female-dominated industries.
But Sheldon warned “the issues with our industrial relations system aren’t limited” to sectors such as childcare and aged care.
He cited Qantas’s record of setting up separate corporate entities such as “QF Cabin Crew Australia” and “Qantas Ground Services” to offer different conditions to outsourced staff.
“If Qantas workers are engaged through 20 or more different employers, single employer bargaining does not work,” Sheldon told a conference organised by law firm Kingston Reid.
“If Qantas can tell its workers they either sign this agreement, or they’ll set up a new company to hire them, single employer bargaining does not work.”
While Sheldon challenges Labor from within to take up the union cause, the Greens have flagged a suite of amendments to any bill to come from the jobs and skills summit, including multi-employer bargaining.
On Wednesday the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, also proposed pegging the mininum wage to 60% of median full-time earnings, and guaranteed pay rises of 0.5% above inflation in female-dominated industries.
The Greens’ wishlist has expanded to include free childcare.
The summit is expected to see consensus on the need for permanent migration to help fill workforce shortages and to reinvest in skills.
Earlier on Wednesday Albanese told reporters in Sydney that national cabinet had discussed the visa processing backlog, migration numbers and skills shortages.
The state and territory leaders agreed to begin working on a new national skills agreement, to be put in place from 1 January 2024.
Ahead of the summit unions have agreed that permanent migration can rise to by 40,000 to 200,000 provided the government enacts other protections to encourage wage growth, including a pay floor of $90,000 for temporary skilled migrants.
Albanese said “the federal government sets the migration numbers” but he was “very pleased at the level of cooperation” in the lead-up to the summit.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, confirmed on Wednesday morning the government was considering proposals to allow seniors to work more before their pension payments are reduced.
Dutton said the policy would provide immediate relief to a “labour market screaming out for workers”.
“The government could have picked up this policy in June and they didn’t,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
One idea that didn’t find favour on either side of the political aisle was retailers’ suggestion that children as young as 13 should be allowed to work, down from the current minimum of 15 years in some states.
“No, I don’t think anyone is seriously suggesting that,” Dutton said, while Marles told Channel Nine’s Today Program it is “certainly not a plan that the government has in mind”.
