THE ACTU recently called on unions across Australia to fight proposed Government changes to workplace relations, such as overhauling unfair dismissal laws, extending the use of Australian Workplace Agreements and reducing the power of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, however the ACTU conceded there were no immediate plans for industrial action
THE ACTU has recently called on unions across Australia to fight proposed Government changes to workplace relations, such as overhauling unfair dismissal laws, extending the use of Australian Workplace Agreements and reducing the power of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. However the ACTU conceded there were no immediate plans for industrial action.
ACTU president Sharan Burrow acknowledged that the next three years would be a trying time for unions, and feared that from July next year the Senate would become a rubber stamp for a radical experiment in industrial relations.
“In particular, the ACTU executive is very worried that the Coalition’s industrial policies will lead to an increasing casualisation of the workforce and worsening job insecurity as more people are pushed onto individual contracts,” she said.
“Unions fear the award safety net of minimum wages and conditions will also be threatened by Coalition control of the Senate.”
ACTU representatives recently gathered at an executive meeting to discuss how to best tackle the government’s planned shake-up of industrial relations, and Burrow said unions would first focus on informing members of what changes would affect them and run community campaigns to educate working Australians about the impact of workplace reforms.
“Unions will do what they do best. They will set out to recruit members, to support members, to stand up for their needs, but to bargain collectively for working arrangements that are fair,”Burrow said.
Prime Minister John Howard has said that workplace reform will top his agenda once the Coalition dominates the parliament, with the Government likely to control the Senate in its own right or with the help of Family First.
“My first goal in IR is to implement what we’ve tried to implement in the past which the Senate has blocked in the past,” he said.
Labor and the minor parties have blocked 28 of the Coalition’s bills in the Senate since it came to power in 1996, with changes to unfair dismissal laws blocked more than 40 times over the past 8 years alone.
Other planned changes include legislation giving greater recognition to independent contractors and new laws restricting union access to the workplace and limits on the number of allowable matters that can be included in awards.
The Recruitment and Consulting Services Association (RCSA) welcomed the Coalition’s proposed workplace relations changes, claiming they will provide both scope for forward planning and better recognise the role of contractors.
“Introducing five-year agreements into workplaces will certainly make it easier for businesses to plan for the longer term,” said Julie Mills, CEO of the RCSA.
“We are also very supportive of the recognition the Coalition gives to contractors and contracting services as a true engine of the economy. This form of flexible employment provides great gains in productivity, and it is time that contracting is seen as a true form of employment and not a way of avoiding entitlements and workplace regulations.”
The proposed new role of the AIRC was also a sensible step, according to the RCSA. Third-Party interference is often not particularly wanted by the parties in dispute, and often results in costly, drawn-out proceedings where mediation would have been more appropriate, it said.
