Coalition plans to make employee contracts easier Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has unveiled his industrial relations policy. Picture: Dan Himbrechts Source: The Daily Telegraph TONY Abbott says he will make it easier for employees to make individual arrangements but any deal must pass a "better-off test." With the Coalition still scarred by the WorkChoices policy that helped defeat the Howard government, the Opposition Leader unveiled an industrial relations policy that he insisted was "sensible, careful, prudent and incremental." Mr Abbott promised not to reintroduce the Australia Workplace Agreements that were at the centre of WorkChoices, but said more people would be able to choose the Individual Flexibility Arrangements, which already exist. He said the "only substantial change" was expanding the availability of the IFAs, but he said bosses could not make them a condition of employment. Unions and the Government blasted Mr Abbott's long-awaited policy while some Coalition MPs and employer groups said they were too cautious. Mr Abbott's plan also includes cutting back union access to workplaces, making the right to strike the final option, bringing back the coercive building industry watchdog and making dodgy union officials face the same penalties as dodgy business leaders. He also vowed not to touch unfair dismissal laws and penalty rates. "There won't be another WorkChoices - it is dead, buried and cremated," Mr Abbott said. But he left open the option for bigger changes, saying there would be a Productivity Commission inquiry into workplace laws but any plans would "have to pass the pub test" and he would first seek a mandate at the election due in 2016. "I want to assure all the workers of Australia - unionised and non-unionised - that they can trust their future in our hands," Mr Abbott said. ACTU president Ged Kearney said it put individual contracts back at the centre of the Coalition's workplace philosophy. "They are AWAs by any other name and we know when people were on AWAs they lost wages, they lost conditions," she said. Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten said it was an "extreme" policy with little detail that "should send a shiver up the spine of every worker." Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief Peter Anderson said it was "too cautious" and did nothing to tackle concerns about unfair dismissals and penalty rates, and there was no relief for small business. What Abbott says he will do: Keep and improve Fair Work laws, including the independent umpire * Allow every worker choice to have individual flexibility arrangements that already exist instead of collective enterprise bargaining agreements * Re-establish Australian Building and Construction Commission * Cut back union right of entry to workplaces * Crackdown on dodgy union officials * Keep the "Better Off Overall Test" (BOOT) What Abbott says he won't do: Bring back WorkChoices * Re-introduce Australian Workplace Agreements * Weaken safety nets * Change unfair dismissal laws * Cut penalty rates, saying he will leave it up to Fair Work Commission to rule on issue as it does now * Make any other changes without seeking a mandate at election due in 2016