Coalition’s new construction code a ‘covert move towards WorkChoices'

The Coalition has unveiled tough compulsory conditions for construction companies tendering for government work in a move unions say is a “covert” attempt to move back to the old WorkChoices regime.

The employment minister, Eric Abetz, said the new code would “restore the rule of law and fairness to Australia’s construction sector” because it reversed the previous Labor government’s changes which he said were made to appease the “extreme” Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU).

He said the code would remove a requirement that contractors employ a non-working shop steward, remove a “one in, all in” clause where, if one person is offered overtime, all the other workers must be offered overtime whether or not there is enough work and also get rid of “jump-up” provisions that prevent a company engaging subcontractors unless they provide “union dictated terms and conditions to workers”.

But CFMEU national secretary Dave Noonan said the changes were an attempt to “covertly” bring back WorkChoices “though the back door”.

He said removing what Abetz calls the “jump-up” clause would mean a construction company could bring in workers through a labour hire company to do the same job as an existing worker on lower wages and conditions than had been set in an enterprise bargain.

“It’s an attack on wages and job security,” he said.

The new code is attached to legislation – now stalled in the Senate – which seeks to bring back the former Howard government’s construction industry watchdog the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).

“Any senator who is prepared to vote for this is prepared to vote for WorkChoices,” Noonan claimed.

The CFMEU is also one of the unions named as a target of the Abbott government’s royal commission into union governance and corruption.

Labor's workplace relations spokesman Brendan O'Connor accused Abetz of "trying to bury this radical building code by releasing it late in the day on the eve of the Easter break".

He said Labor would consider how the code would impact on employment conditions, the right to be represented at work and the potential to diminish workplace health and safety.