AREEA has written to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd urging an overhaul to Australia’s workplace laws in order to lift productivity or risk undermining $350bn invested in Australia’s resource industry.
The letter comes after the PM’s National Press Club address on July 11, in which he called for a productivity pact between business and government, but failed to acknowledge any challenges under the Australian Government’s Fair Work legislation.
AREEA’s letter proposes several non-legislative measures to lift productivity in Australian workplaces, including across areas of innovation, technology, productivity research and benchmarking, promoting best practice in employee engagement and greater productivity emphasis in education and training.
However, the resource industry employer group also warns the PM that ignoring key legislative challenges including expanded union right of entry, increased union militancy and greenfield bargaining issues, would see any productivity agenda fail.
Click here for AREEA’s letter to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on his proposed productivity agenda.
Click here for AREEA’s Productivity Discussion Paper, which was attached with the letter to the PM.
Click here for AREEA’s submission to the 2012 Fair Work Review Panel, also referenced in the letter.
Click here for news coverage of AREEA’s letter in national newspaper, The Australian
