New proposal wants small businesses to include employers with 50 full-time equivalent staff
Employers and unions are clashing anew over a proposal to update the definition of small businesses to include those with 50 full-time equivalent employees.
Australia's Fair Work Act defines a small business as an employer that hires fewer than 15 employees.
But the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA) said this definition is "not fit-for-purpose."
Luke Achterstraat, CEO of COSBOA, said small businesses face the risk of losing their status by bringing on additional casuals to meet seasonal demand.
He stressed that many small businesses may easily employ dozens of people but still operate on thin margins and low turnover.
"A more appropriate definition could be achieved by updating the definition to 50 full-time equivalent employees, excluding casuals," Achterstraat said in a statement. "This would bring Australia more into line with counterparts such as the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada."
But the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) is accusing COSBOA of wanting to get employers out of compliance with workplace laws.
"Half of all workers would have unfair dismissal rights, rights to fair pay, redundancy pay, protections from wage theft, and job security rights taken from them if the business lobby gets their way," said Joseph Mitchell, ACTU acting secretary, in a statement.
"The last thing any working person needs is fewer rights at work, less pay and less job security. If made law, these proposals would make cost-of-living pressures much worse."
This is not the first time that unions and employers have butted heads over expanding the definition of small businesses.
Earlier this year, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) was also reportedly lobbying to change the definition of a small business to include 25 employees in a workplace.
The proposal was met with disagreement from ACTU, which also argued that up to one million workers would have their rights stripped away if the ACCI's proposal was approved.
Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt also disagreed with the proposal.
"There is absolutely no evidence that we need to make it easier for small and medium-sized businesses to be able to unfairly sack workers, and that's what this change would amount to," Watt previously told ABC Radio National.
The minister said the proposed change may not be what Australians want to see at that time.
"Australians are doing it tough with cost-of-living pressures. This is the worst possible time we could be looking at introducing laws that cut people's wages and conditions," Watt said.
