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More On The Recent ALP National Conference Day 2: (1 August 2009)

At the recent ALP National Conference Chapter 4 of the draft ALP Policy Platform was concerned with IR issues. It was moved by the Deputy Prime Minister and IR Minister Julia Gillard and seconded by Chris Bowen.

In her opening remarks Gillard claimed that IR “is at the heart of our [ALP] politics”. Referring to the lead up to the 2007 federal election, she said “we had sustained a massive attack, an onslaught by Liberals and employers on IR … in particular to retain AWA’s”.

Gillard went on to say that “the might of working people [and] the trade union movement in getting rid of Howard because of the channelled and focused … ‘Your Rights @ Work/anti-WorkChoices campaign … was fantastic’.

She reported that earlier in the day she had joined the LHMU to meet hotel workers on how her Fair Work Act and the government’s procurement policies will assist the unions’ Clean Start campaign.

She also announced the federal government was going to implement the ILO convention on ‘work at home’ and that the federal government is also going to assist truck drivers with respect to the “Safe Rates” campaign. The government will be working with “unions, employees and employers” on these important issues, she said.

The Deputy Prime Minister took credit for the recent introduction of Parental Leave Scheme.

Gillard finished by claiming that the proposed Chapter 4 “embodied the very heart of labour values”.

The standing orders of the Conference were suspended on the motion of Tony Sheldon (TWU) and Louise Tarrant (LHMU) to allow the ACTU Secretary Jeff Lawrence to make an address to the conference.

Lawrence praised the FW Act for introducing “good faith bargaining”. He said it will be great in terms of the long standing Cochlear dispute. Unions will use the new IR Act to “bargain and to grow”, he told the audience.

He said that access to arbitration however needed to improve in the new Act. He said government procurement policy needed to also change. He mentioned workers’ rights in general terms, as needing further protection.

A block of policy amendments on IR related issues was moved by Joe De Bruyn (SDA) and seconded by John Sutton (CFMEU).

This block of changes was portrayed as being created with “ACTU help and major unions … and in league with IR Minister”. Sutton in speaking to the amendments did say “we still have a long way to go”. He gave no specifics.

A big issue pushed before the conference in the media was that the union movement should get representation on federal government boards, inquiries and committees, just as employer bodies do. This got a run at the Conference as well.

Back to the FW Act and the party platform, John Sutton said the new legislation “must protect” workers and shop stewards who get victimised and sacked.

He introduced sacked shop steward Nigel Gould who had been sacked by Thiess Contractors and had been on a picket line for eight weeks.

Sutton argued that to “give life to” the words of the new Act “into the future” it would have to protect people like Nigel.

He added that unions needed to put their “shoulder to the wheel” and rebuild the union movement, adding the ALP needs “an effective union movement”.

Louise Tarrant praised the FW Act and said we will look at “all the amazing changes” at the next ALP National Conference.

Because Gillard had, behind the scenes allowed a ‘sanitised’ advisory,

non–binding resolution on the ABCC to go forward, Dave Noonan, National Secretary CFMEU (Construction & General Division) and Paul Howes AWU National Secretary were able to give militant well argued speeches about why this political/industrial police body had to go. They received great applause and cheering!

Similarly, a resolution calling for a “best practice” approach to national harmonisation OHS law was allowed to go up, moved by ANF and Unions NSW.

Gillard in reply promised a meeting of Federal and State Workplace Relations Ministers to hear union “concerns” about the OHS harmonisation process.

COMMENTARY

It is quaint for Minister Gillard to tell the ALP National Conference that IR is at the heart of ALP politics, implying concern for workers’ living standards and rights are centre stage. Yet all of her public utterances are about neutralising IR as an issue while granting concession after concession to employer demands for a so called new non-adversarial culture. This is code for workers’ rights to be further stymied. The employers in contrast are not pushed to concede real ‘good faith’ bargaining with the same vigour.

Yes, the Liberals and the employers did mount a massive attack leading up to the November 2007 federal election on the IR question.

Gillard’s response was to compromise the then already agreed to ALP IR policy to accommodate that attack. Subsequently the final Fair Work Act would continue to contain many key aspects of Howard’s rejected WorkChoices legislation.

Gillard says the union movement’s 05-07 Your Rights at Work campaign was ‘fantastic’ and its focus was crucial in getting rid of Howard. She doesn’t say that in the public arena, especially with the employers continuing to push back hard to regain more pro-WorkChoices type concessions.

It was great to hear the Federal Government is moving to implement the ILO Convention on Work at Home. But how about abiding by ILO conventions already ratified by Australia, such as unrestricted collective bargaining, the right to industrial action and no restrictions on bargaining issues.

The Deputy Prime Minister, on behalf of her government, took credit for the recently introduced Parental Leave Scheme. There was no mention of the fact that the trade union movement campaigned across all workplaces for paid maternity leave for decades. Such a broad campaign will now be illegal under current Fair Work Act legislation.

The ACTU’s Jeff Lawrence put his faith in the new “good faith bargaining” requirements and named the drawn out Cochlear dispute as a major test of the legislation. Even though he said broader access to arbitration was needed and further protection of workers’ rights had to remain a priority, he didn’t insist on an updated package of IR reforms (“unfinished business”) for the government’s second term, which is ACTU Congress policy.

When the block of IR policy amendments were put they didn’t contain a requirement for more “unfinished business” reform to be put before the Parliament.

Only weeks after the conference the mover of the ‘block’ amendments would describe Gillard as a “weak link” for giving consideration to further IR concessions to employers in industries his union covers!

Similarly, John Sutton in speaking to the ‘block’ amendments openly said “we have a long way to go”, but didn’t insist on a requirement that there should be more IR reforms by the government. The Rudd/Gillard government now does not, in policy terms, have to consider IR improvements until 2013!

When pleading the case of sacked shop steward Nigel Gould, Sutton already knew the Fair Work Act was not strong enough to protect him from the victimisation he had suffered.

The next ALP National Conference is likely to occur in 2012. It will indeed be ‘amazing’ to see how things have changed.

The employers are mounting a co-ordinated, costly legal strategy to take on the Fair Work Act and Fair Work Australia in order to minimise further the capacity of workers’ to bargain effectively. They are also spending a lot of energy on Gillard herself, trying to wedge her about her public utterances on “productivity” versus “IR changes”.

Meanwhile, the abomination called the ABCC continues to politically interfere in the nation’s construction projects, threatening to gaol rank and filers like Ark Tribe of South Australia.

Meanwhile, hard won OHS rights are being undermined by the so called harmonisation process. This national takeover of OHS Law wasn’t started with the view to improve workers’ safety, but with the aim of cutting red tape for the employers.