Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says he wants to bring back parts of the Howard government's workplace policy to make industrial laws more flexible.

Mr Abbott says the former government's WorkChoices policy is dead.

But he says he would relax unfair dismissal laws for small businesses and reintroduce statutory non-union contracts if he wins the election.

"We want to make it possible for business to be more profitable and for workers to earn more," he said.

"That's what we had under the Howard government. That's what we need to have again as we go forward in this country."

Mr Abbott predicts businesses will limit their opening hours on weekends because of current workplace laws.

The Government says its changes are simpler for businesses and give employees better protection, but Mr Abbott says the laws have boosted penalty rates and led to rising wage costs for employers.

He says employers, workers and consumers are worse off under the Government's laws.

"There will be nothing open after midday on Saturday," he said.

"[Kevin Rudd] wants to bring back the church Sunday for all of us, because there'll be nothing else to do on Sunday under Labor's laws but go to church.

"There certainly won't be any shops open if he has his way."

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard says the proposals would be a backward step for workers.

"There's an old saying, if it waddles like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it is a duck," Ms Gillard said.

"If it has in it individual statutory contracts that rip the safety net away, if it has in it the loss of unfair dismissal rights, then it is WorkChoices."

Ms Gillard says the Government's workplace relations laws are fair.

"When we look at our most recent industrial action statistics of our new Fair Work laws, industrial action went down," she said.

"Of course what we're seeing across the economy is very modest wages growth and that's a reflection of our economic conditions."