Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has accused Labor of rank populism after the opposition used parliament to demand the government overturn a Fair Work Commission decision on Sunday penalty rates.
The government had the numbers in the lower house to prevent Labor leader Bill Shorten tabling a private bill and have it debated and voted on by Monday afternoon.
Mr Shorten will have to wait three weeks for another opportunity.
But that didn't stop opposition MPs from demanding the prime minister intervene in the commission's decision to align Sunday and Saturday penalty rates for hundreds of thousands of workers.
"Today I'm offering the prime minister the chance to work with us to protect penalty rates and take-home pay of hard-working Australians," Mr Shorten told parliament.
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"A decision to not remedy this decision of the Fair Work Commission is a decision to support it."
Mr Turnbull was scathing in his response.
"There has been a complete and utter blackflip undertaken by the Labor Party on this," he told MPs citing Labor's long-standing tradition of supporting the independent industrial umpire.
"This is rank populism."
Mr Turnbull said Mr Shorten, as minister at the time, helped establish references for the commission's review of penalty rates in the hospitality and retail sectors.
The Labor government had also provided funding to the Council of Small Business to argue its case for lower penalty rates before the commission.
Labor claims up to 700,000 workers will lose about $77 a week because of the commission's decision, leading the Greens to warn of civil unrest.
"Young people are getting screwed over and if this government doesn't fix it there'll be rioting in the streets," Greens MP Adam Bandt told reporters.
The latest Newspoll, showing another slide in voter support for the coalition, should come as no surprise, he said.
"Young people are getting screwed over, owning a home is out of reach, study is getting more expensive, work is getting more insecure and now many young people's wages will be cut," Mr Bandt told parliament.
Earlier, Treasurer Scott Morrison questioned what Mr Shorten was considering next.
"He doesn't like what the Reserve Bank decides on interest rates and he decides he wants to legislate and change that?" he told 2GB radio.
Unions have called on all politicians to join them in their fight to protect workers' pay.
