The Coalition could be forced to accept the gutting of its workplace relations legislation in order to win Senate support for changes to enterprise bargaining on major new construction and mining projects.
Crossbench senators met with the employment minister, Eric Abetz, on Tuesday and have proposed amendments to remove most of the elements of the federal government’s stalled fair work amendment bill.
The original bill would have changed individual flexibility arrangements, wound back union right of entry rules, prevented absent people from taking or accruing leave when they were receiving workers’ compensation, and amended the procedures for the Fair Work Commission to consider unfair dismissal claims.
But all of these elements will be knocked out of the bill if the Senate passes a sweeping amendment to be moved by crossbench senators Ricky Muir, Bob Day, Glenn Lazarus and John Madigan.
The proposed amendment retains the government’s proposal to set up a new process for negotiating “greenfields agreements” for large construction and resources projects, prompted by accusations from employer groups that unions have delayed the beginning of work by demanding excessive wage rates.
The legislation would allow an employer to apply to the Fair Work Commission to approve a proposed agreement if a deal has not been reached with unions within three months of the start of negotiations.
The crossbench senator Nick Xenophon, backed by colleagues Dio Wang, Day, Lazarus, Madigan and Muir, is set to move another amendment changing the negotiation deadline from three months to six months.
Xenophon said he believed six months was a reasonable timeframe for employers and unions to engage in good-faith bargaining. “It forces a resolution of the issue which I don’t think is unfair. It’s quite reasonable,” he said.
But the Greens MP Adam Bandt said he would be disappointed if crossbenchers agreed to pass a bill that would “deny workers on big projects a voice on their wages and conditions”.
“The bill would allow employers to bargain with themselves and unilaterally determine wages and conditions on large projects without having to negotiate with workers and unions,” he said.
Crossbenchers met with Abetz on Tuesday to discuss the fair work amendment bill. It is understood the government has been in talks with them for weeks to try to find a way forward and the negotiations are continuing.
Sources familiar with the negotiations believe the government might be willing to accept the passage of the bill in its pared-back form, although a deal with the crossbench is yet to be finalised.
In a speech to the Senate on Wednesday, Muir said he did not support the bill in its current form but he had proposed amendments because the Fair Work Act could be improved.
Muir said he opposed the proposed changes to individual flexibility arrangements because of the risk that unsuspecting, vulnerable employees could lose benefits and be worse off. He drew on personal experience to warn legislators to tread carefully on the issue: “I’ve been a low-paid worker and I know what it’s like to live from one pay day to the next.”
Muir said he was satisfied that the amendment to greenfields agreements reflected “a balanced and constructive approach”. There needed to be a solution to resolve stalled negotiations and see projects get off the ground, he said.
The legislation is separate from two other planks of the Coalition’s workplace agenda, the reintroduction of the Australian Building and Construction Commission and toughening rules for union misconduct, which have been blocked by the Senate.
The Senate debated the fair work amendment bill for about two hours on Wednesday morning. The debate was due to resume in the evening.
