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There has been movement from the Federal Government today in response to Master Builders advocacy with the Minister for Industrial Relations stating that unions should not bring their “traditional wish list of demands” to EBA negotiations because “that is not in the best interests of job growth or any of the workers who need that job growth to occur.”
The Minister’s comments come with Master Builders New South Wales pushing back hard against the CFMMEU NSW Branch pursuing an EBA that MBA NSW’s Executive Director Brian Seidler says will result in pay increases for construction workers of up to 25 per cent over two and a half years for construction workers with zero productivity gains.
Master Builders Australia has previously stressed to the IR Minister, and reiterated on Sky Mews Credlin program last might, that IR reform must focus on the Prime Minister’s “threshold objective to protect and create jobs”.
The CFMMEU’s pursuit of wage claims three times greater than this year’s minimum wage increase when the industry is facing drastic forecast downturn and an economy suffering the biggest contraction since the Great Depression shows how totally out of touch the union’s NSW Branch is with community expectations.
As advised yesterday, the CFMMEU is accused of hijacking workplace safety in pursuit of its industrial agenda and Master Builders NSW has supported 40 building businesses in a meeting with the state’s safety regulator over their claims that the union is using spurious safety concerns to bully them into signing their proposed pattern agreement.
The Fight Against Industrial Manslaughter Legislation
Meanwhile, Master Builders Western Australia is displaying Master Builders commitment to fearlessly stand up for Master Builders members’ interests on based on policy not politics in its determined fight against the state government’s industrial manslaughter bill (which is supported by the CFMMEU) currently before the WA Parliament.
Master Builders WA and its Executive Director John Gelavis worked closely with the McGowan Government to secure state government funded stimulus measures for the state’s residential building sector having been one of the first to call for $40,000 grants for people to build new homes.
Master Builders WA is leading the fight by employers against industrial manslaughter, assembling a coalition of 24 other industry peak bodies representing industries across the whole WA economy to oppose the and providing the group with the expertise behind both the Master Builders WA and the Alliance’s submissions to the state parliamentary inquiry on the bill.
Tax cuts & New Income Support
The Treasurer today confirmed that the Federal Government is actively considering bringing forward tax cuts for individuals. It’s reported that this would mean accelerating the planned 2022-23 tax cuts by one year to start on 1 July 2021. Labor has already expressed its support for this measure.
The Treasurer also indicated the strong possibility that there would be a continuation of targeted income support measures beyond the September expiration date for the JobKeeper payment.
Watch Master Builders Australia’s CEO Denita Wawn on Sky News Australia’s Credlin program