Employment and Industrial Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth has made a pitch to the party’s union base, vowing to bolster powers to block employer retaliation against industrial action.
She told the conference Labor would modernise Comcare to expand support for injured workers, double down on its same job, same pay reforms, and pursue a new Fair Work Court.
Employment and Industrial Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth addressed the ALP national conference on Friday.Dominic Lorrimer
The party will also adopt an amendment today that vows to update the Fair Work Act and “ensure that workers can never again be locked out by their employers for weeks or months on end in response to taking industrial action of a few hours or days”.
“Disproportionate, extended lockouts cause serious harm to workers and their families, particularly in regional communities,” Rishworth said.
“This is not fair, and that is why the amendment will commit a Labor government to put a stop to it, to change the law, to allow workers and their unions to apply to the Fair Work Commission to suspend disproportionate industrial action by employers.”