Unions have pushed Labor to harden its workplace agenda, winning support to expand same job same pay rules and give unions more leverage in bargaining. Delegates at the Labor national conference in Adelaide backed changes that would make it easier to draw employers into collective negotiations and limit the use of employer lockouts.
Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth endorsed the platform shift and said it commits the Albanese government to amending the Fair Work Act. Employer groups argue unions are trying to increase their power over business while reducing the options available to companies in industrial disputes.
Under the new platform, Labor supports broadening same job same pay provisions beyond their current scope, tightening gaps that allow labour hire or contracting to undercut pay. The plan also includes new powers for unions or workers to require reluctant employers to join collective bargaining processes.
Limits on employer lockouts would add another constraint on how companies can respond during disputes. Any changes would move through amendments to the Fair Work Act, which governs the national workplace relations system.
Further pressure came from the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association, which advanced an initiative centred on artificial intelligence and working time. The union wants the Albanese government to work with unions and employers to consider how efficiency gains from AI can be shared as extra time off, framed as a "time dividend" for employees.
The proposal does not lock in a specific model but puts the idea of AI driven reductions in working hours on Labor's agenda. Employer organisations already wary of expanded union powers see the combined package as a significant shift in the balance of industrial relations.
