Victorian Trades Hall Council. The voice of Victorian workers since 1856.Victorian Trades Hall Council. The voice of Victorian workers since 1856.

Victorian Unions Participate in National Manufacturing Summit

by Brian Boyd Secretary VTHC Dec 2005

The end of 2005 saw the union movement take the threat to the nations manufacturing sector seriously. On 12-13 December the Victorian Government initiative, “the National Manufacturing Summit 2005: Thriving in a Global Environment” was held in Melbourne.

The AMWU, NUW, TCFUA, LHMU CFMEU and peak union councils the ACTU and VTHC, participated in detailed discussion that covered the key issue of where Australian manufacturing is heading. The AMWU circulated a major document: “Australian Manufacturing – A Vision for the Future”. This made some key comments on the current situation.

The AMWU argued: “Australia cannot provide improved living standards for all Australians if our manufacturing capabilities are diminished to the extent that we de-industrialise our nation. We cannot continue increasing our reliance on importing high-value manufacturing goods.
Attempting to compete by abandoning significant sectors of manufacturing and implementing workplace legislation designed to force down wages and conditions is a strategy doomed to failure”.
“Manufacturing is in crisis. Australia stands at the crossroads. If we are to become an internationally competitive economy, specialising in knowledge intensive exports rather than a high debt resource focused, low wage economy subject to the vagaries of international commodity markets, we must have a viable manufacturing sector”.

Nationally the manufacturing sector has lost over 60,000 jobs in the last year alone. One third of the losses occurred in Victoria, the nations industrial heartland. The blame has been put on competition from China, the high dollar and tariff cuts.

Employers are saying ‘things are bad’ and they are not going to get better. Companies are rationalising and trying to take some of the costs out of their businesses. Many of the changes in the labour intensive manufacturing sector won’t be rolled back and the sector will have to adapt.

Globalisation is creating winners and losers, the losers principally being ordinary working Australians. Is it adopting a ‘siege mentality’ to demand that government policy be strategically aimed at maintaining and growing the national industrial base?

Australian companies carving out ‘niche markets’ and speculating in intellectual property (IP) don’t necessarily generate many jobs. In particular, the Federal Government’s claim that its extreme industrial relations changes will help meet the ‘global economic challenges’ is opportunist, dishonest claptrap and doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

Any government policy framework aimed at reinvigorating manufacturing must factor in jobs creation and genuine skills training.

At the Summit some employers who were supportive of a tripartite approach to delivering a “united commitment to the future growth of a strong and sustainable Australian Manufacturing Industry” (Summit Communiqué), revealed a key stumbling block was the Federal Government. Federal Minister for Industry, Ian McFarlane, has made it clear he doesn’t want to be involved in future processes that involve trade unions. This ideological obsession of the federal government is almost tantamount to sabotage of finding a collective way forward to have the manufacturing sector stay viable.


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