The Labour government will legislate improved access to flexible work for parents, carers and older Australians in a move that will almost certainly concern businesses already lobbying against multi-employer bargaining changes, reports The Guardian. Workplace relations minister, Tony Burke, has revealed that the government’s ‘secure jobs, better pay’ bill, introduced today, would include a stronger right to request flexible work, backed by binding Fair Work Commission arbitration if an employer refuses. The same bill implements Labour’s election commitments to improve gender pay equity and multi-employer bargaining, a union proposal the government signed up to at its September jobs and skills summit. That proposal has alarmed employers. Under current laws, employees can request flexible work hours, but employers have no obligation to agree.

The changes would legally require employers to try to reach agreement with eligible employees who request flexible work hours or arrangements, including proposing an alternative if the employee’s request cannot be accommodated on reasonable business grounds. If the parties cannot agree, the employees would be able to take the refusal to the commission to reach agreement by conciliation and, where that fails, receive a binding decision. The bill also bans rolling fixed term contracts, with exceptions including for high income earners.

Employers have warned that the reform, combined with a lower threshold for FWC (Fair Work Commission) arbitration of industrial disputes, will shift Australia back towards centralised wage-fixing, pushing labour costs up.