Mr Combet says the business sector's recent criticism of Labor's pledge to scrap Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) is not reflected in the general electorate.
"There's still a lot of opposition to the government's industrial relations laws," he said."That's one of the reasons that there's a lot of support for Labor in the electorate, and I think the concept that the industrial relations policy that Labor's now announced is now, in some way, a problem for Labor, is frankly absurd."
The mining sector is the biggest critic of Labor's pledge to scrap AWAs.
But Mr Combet says it is the mining companies who should consider a change of attitude.
"Will they respect the right of employees individually to freely choose to be a member of a union and to be represented by a union, and secondly will they respect the right of employees to collectively bargain if the majority of them want it?" he asked.
"I think if they can come to grips with those two important rights for employees there's every chance of coming up with a really good industrial relations system.
"It's just not surprising that companies like Rio Tinto have objected to the Labor Party's industrial relations policy when that policy respects international human rights."
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