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Unions and business issue entry

Providing Influence and Industry Advocacy since 1918

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Originally published by OHS Alert

The Federal Government’s renewed plan to tighten right-of-entry laws will hamstring union activities that reduce workplace injuries, the ACTU has warned. Meanwhile, ACCI has warned employers against trusting certificates from overseas manufacturers declaring goods as asbestos-free.

Employment Minister Michaelia Cash last week declared that the Government would pursue workplace changes previously blocked by the Senate, including those “restoring balance to the right-of-entry laws”.

She told the Australian Mines and Metals Association’s annual conference that the Government would remove “default access to lunchrooms” for union officials entering workplaces, and place “sensible limits” on workplace visits.

It would increase the Fair Work Commission’s capacity to crack down on “excessive” visits, and scrap provisions requiring employers to provide accommodation and transport to union officials visiting remote sites, she said.

“Unions who abuse right of entry provisions in this country cost you money, but ultimately they cost the Australian people money,” Cash told the conference.

ACTU secretary Dave Oliver accused the Minister of concealing these plans in the lead up to the July Federal election, and said reducing union access to workplaces would have serious safety implications.

He said that regardless of Cash’s views, right of entry “is about ensuring workers are safe so that people don’t get injured or, worse, die. It’s also about working peoples’ right to join a union and discuss issues that affect them at work, whether it be pay, conditions or leave”.

“There are around 600,000 workplace injuries in Australia each year. Every day union officials are working with workplace OHS reps to reduce this number,” Oliver said.

AREEA chief executive Steve Knott called on the Government to prioritise pursuing “its clearly foreshadowed IR changes while simultaneously implementing” the Productivity Commission’s November 2015 recommendations for improving Australia’s workplace relations framework.

These recommendations included repealing s505A(4) of the Fair Work Act 2009, which states that the FW Commission can only deal with a dispute about the frequency of a permit holder’s entry to a site if that frequency requires an “unreasonable diversion of the occupier’s critical resources”.

“Fundamental reform of our workplace relations laws cannot be put on the backburner,” Knott told the AREEA conference.

Cash told delegates she intended to have “open and constructive discussions” with crossbench Senators to pass the changes.

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