Business, unions back workers amid virus

Katina Curtis, AAP Senior Political Writer
Health minister Greg Hunt has discussed workers with unions and businesses in light of COVID-19.
Health minister Greg Hunt has discussed workers with unions and businesses in light of COVID-19. Credit: AAP

Business leaders are backing government calls for bosses to keep workers in jobs through the coronavirus epidemic but warn that smaller enterprises are likely to do it tough.

Unions are also calling for government support to small businesses and their workers, many of whom are casuals with no sick leave.

Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter met with representatives on both sides on Tuesday to gauge the problems they are anticipating and suggestions on how to deal with them as the coronavirus spreads across Australia.

"Some people already have the solutions, they will say, to problems that we don't quite fully understand the scope, scale and dimensions of yet," he told reporters in Sydney after the meeting.

"We listened to everyone's solutions but today, first and foremost, we were trying to understand the dimensions of the challenges and the problems that are likely to arise."

Unions have raised concerns about 3.3 million people without access to sick leave.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus said giving people leave had to be the first priority and there had been encouraging signs from big business.

"We do have to think about small businesses because they're also going to struggle if there is a further downturn," she told reporters.

"That's why the government needs to play a role in supporting those workers and those contractors, those small businesses in order to make sure that people can look after themselves and keep healthy, but also so the economy can keep operating."

Mr Porter said if someone was told to quarantine themselves, the first response should be to see if they could continue working from home.

"That won't be possible in all businesses - but it might be the first time that some people in some businesses have worked from home because they've been directed to stay home for a period of isolation," he said.

Ms McManus also urged setting up remote working, but said special leave arrangements might also be necessary.

"This is going to perhaps be more than just your normal sick leave if people have to self-isolate for a while," she said.

Mr Porter cautioned against interest groups trying to "back pocket-out" things they've long called for and seeking to make them happen now under the guise of a health crisis.

He also issued a warning to unions that adding industrial action to economic stresses would be "a very major additional and significant difficulty that we just really don't need".

Business Council of Australia head Tim Reed doesn't believe there will be large waves of unemployment flowing on from the virus crisis.

"Wherever businesses can, they should continue to support their employees who have supported them through their business growth through that period of time," he told ABC radio.