Australia: Industrial Relations Future Under a New Liberal Government
A new Liberal Government spells little tinkering according to Nick Ruskin, a partner in the Labour, Employment and Workplace Safety Practice at K&L Gates.
Business, having seen a raft of changes to IR laws over recent years, can look forward to some stability as a new Abbott Government seeks to instill business confidence through certainty.
One pressure point will be the role of unions in the workplace and seeking to reinstate a tougher regulator in the building construction industry. A Liberal Government looks to toughen the test to apply for ballots to take protected industrial action during bargaining and want to enable all enterprise agreements to have the ability for individual agreements between an employer and an employee to be made during the life of the agreement.
All in all, a less reformist agenda than previous governments looks on the cards for the next three years.
