Employer group attacks union attempts to change new health and safety laws

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has attacked the Australian Council of Trade Unions, claiming it is using misleading information as part of its campaign to force changes to proposed workplace safety laws.

Despite the fact the new laws have been agreed to by Australia’s Workplace Relations ministers, the ACTU wants the Government to make changes to the new national OH&S laws that would allow unions greater access to worksites, allow them to prosecute OH&S breaches and put the onus of proof in injury cases on the employer.

The union is scheduled to meet Federal Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard and her state labour workplace ministers today to discuss the changes to the proposed laws.

Last week the union held a series of rallies on the issue, and released polling that showed 67% of respondents were not aware of the national laws and 69% believed workers should have the right to take an employer to court over a workplace injury.

However, the ACCI has hit out at the unions claims and say these two poll results would appear to contradict each other.

“How did those seven out of 10 respondents have sufficient understanding of the issues to provide an informed response? Were they led to provide answers that would support the ACTU campaign?” an ACCI briefing paper asks.

The ACCI has also questioned ACTU claims that Australia has 7,000 workplace fatalities each year. The employer group Federal Government data shows there were fatalities of 2,480.

The tit-for-tat battle over statistics appears to be something of a sideshow. The real question is: Can the union actually change the course of the new OH&S laws?

“We’re not expecting any changes at all and all the signals that we are hearing from the Workplace Relations ministers indicates that as well,” the ACCI’s OH&S and compensation manager Michael Sleap says. 

“The issues that the ACTU are campaigning on have already been rejected twice.”

But There has been some suggestions that Government may be prepared to give some ground on relatively minor issues. According to a report in the Australian Financial Review, unions will be given great powers to enter a worksite in relation to OH&S issues, and employers will also be forced to allow health and safety representatives to attend training courses, which can be run by unions.

However, Sleap says these suggestions are not locked in and it appears unlikely the Government will give ground on the issue of reversing the onus of proof and allowing unions to prosecute OH&S breaches.