Employers expect tests of new IR laws

Employers are bracing for challenges in the next six months as unions test the
boundaries of new industrial laws coming into force on Wednesday.
Hundreds of thousands of businesses will come under new unfair dismissal laws and
American-style good-faith bargaining rules beginning on July 1, replacing much of
the Howard government's Work Choices regime.
The nation's largest employer group, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(ACCI), warns that employers will find the new bargaining rules challenging.
"There's going to be a degree of uncertainty about how those provisions are intended
to operate," ACCI workplace relations policy director David Gregory told AAP on
Monday.
"There's going to be, I think, some testing of the waters, some test cases about
what those obligations do, in fact, involve."
Australian Industry Group chief executive Heather Ridout said some companies were
better prepared than others but there was "a general sense of unease" over what the
1,000 pages of new laws and regulations would mean in the workplace.
"Unions will need to be responsible in their use of the new laws or risk causing
economic damage at the worst time for Australia, when pressures on business and on
employment are intense," Mrs Ridout said in a statement.
Dozens of enterprise bargaining agreements (EBAs), particularly in the metals and
manufacturing industries, are set to expire, giving unions a chance to put the new
laws to the test.
ACTU secretary Jeff Lawrence said the new bargaining rules were the most important
aspect of the act, something which unions had been active in explaining to workers
in the past few weeks.
"I think the central question is what rights have people got and how they're going
to exercise the rights, and we'll be determined to make sure they do that," Mr
Lawrence said.
Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard on Monday announced a $12.9 million
education and information campaign aimed at small businesses to make sure employers
and employees understand the changes.
"These changes have not snuck up on anyone, they are the changes we took to the
Australian people at the last election and follow an unprecedented level of
consultation with all relevant stakeholders," Ms Gillard said.
Hundreds of thousands of small businesses with fewer than 100 staff will once again
be subject to unfair dismissal laws, while businesses with fewer than 15 employees
will be subject to the laws for the first time.
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) construction division
national secretary, Dave Noonan, said the changes were not "seismic" but meant
workers on the fringes would get greater protection because they would be roped back
into collective bargaining.
"In terms of the Fair Work laws themselves, they are not all we'd want, but they are
a substantial improvement on the Work Choices system," Mr Noonan said.
He said it remained to be seen whether test cases would cause disruption.
Opposition workplace relations spokesman Michael Keenan said the new laws would
place a lot of roadblocks in front of employers.
"I think the union movement has a clear strategy to push all the new powers they've
been given under the Fair Work Act as far as they possibly can. They've given every
indication that's what they're likely to do," Mr Keenan said.
The 10 national employment standards, modernised awards and a fully operational Fair
Work Australia (FWA) will not come into force until January 1.
But from Wednesday, FWA will replace the Work Choices agencies, the Australian Fair
Pay Commission, the Workplace Ombudsman and the Workplace Authority.
"This replaces an alphabet soup of agencies which were almost impossible for
organisations and individuals to navigate through," Ms Gillard said.
The Australian Industrial Relations Commission and the Australian Building and
Construction Commission (ABCC) will be replaced by FWA in the new year.
Individual Transitional Employment Agreements (ITEAs), which replaced the Work
Choices Australian Workplace Agreements in March last year, will continue to be
available until December 31 this year.