Business costs to rise under new IR laws

New workplace laws come into effect today, a move the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA says will add to the cost of doing business and discourage job creation.

The announcement is below:

Efforts by Western Australian business to help the local economy weather the global financial crisis have been made more difficult today by the implementation of the Federal Government's new industrial relations regime

The State's peak business organisation, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia, is concerned the new regime will add to the cost of doing business, impose further unnecessary regulation and confusion on business, and discourage job creation.

Businesses across the State, and the Nation, are apprehensive about the first of July 2009 - the day the new system comes into force.

The changes will disadvantage many small, medium and large businesses across the State to the benefit of unions, and signal the start of a new era in which unions will be handed greater control of Australian workplaces.

As of today, unions will have the right to enter workplaces, regardless of whether they have members employed by the company or not, be handed greater influence over agreement making and workplace issues, and employers will be forced into collective union agreements whether they, or a majority of their employees, want to or not.

Changes to unfair dismissal laws will undermine the ability of business and industry to create and protect jobs. Despite assurances from the Federal Government that small business will be exempt from the changes, CCI is concerned that all employers, regardless of how many people they hire, can be exposed to costly and damaging claims following a qualifying period.

Unions have made it clear they will exploit the new laws to increase their membership, and control over Australian workplaces.

A recent business survey by CCI highlighted the significance of these changes, with a majority of businesses revealing the new industrial relations system will be disruptive and costly for them. Businesses say the changes will cost them on average more than $100,000, and make them less willing to employ more staff.

The need for a modern and flexible industrial relations system has never been greater as the global community looks to business and industry to drive economic growth, create more jobs and help insulate the local economy from the current global economic uncertainty.

Evidence has already emerged of some militant unions taking advantage of the new system to wreak industrial havoc on a number of Perth building sites. CCI is concerned that disruptive and costly industrial action, over seemingly trivial matters, will become commonplace on local workplaces.