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

Public Sector Employment Bill 2006

Bracks Government Public Sector Legislation
- A Welcome First Step Against Howard’s IR Onslaught

Today (8 February 2006), VTHC Secretary, Brian Boyd, welcomed the introduction into the State Parliament of the Public Sector Employment (Award Entitlements) Bill 2006.

“It is a welcome first step in moves to protect Victorian public sector workers from Howard’s federal laws, which are aimed at reducing and removing current wages and conditions”, VTHC Secretary, Brian Boyd said today.

“We know the Bracks government supports collective agreements and Awards over individual contracts (AWA’s) and have said consistently Howard’s IR laws are “unfair” to Victorian workers.”

(Last year, Victorian Minister Rob Hulls and Premier Steve Bracks addressed the VTHC’s huge protest rallies on June 30th and November 15th respectively.)

“Protecting the status quo is important, but we still need ongoing mechanisms to protect and progress Enterprise Bargaining arrangements that sit above Award entitlements”, added Mr Boyd.

“The role of the State ALP governments will be important in 2006 to keep the pressure on John Howard, as he and Kevin Andrews try to spread their IR regime around the country. 

“This is particularly pertinent as Mr Andrews has once again cancelled the Workplace Relations Ministerial Council (where he meets State and Territory IR Ministers) to assess the impact of new Federal IR laws on State Laws.

“Mr Andrews is running scared as the campaign against his laws is growing,” concluded Mr Boyd.


More Archive

Powered By three squares