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

Emerging IR Scene in 2008

By Brian Boyd, VTHC Secretary
19 December 2007

No one doubts that the last Federal Election gave a clear, unequivocal verdict on John Howard’s IR laws.

It’s how the Rudd / Gillard Government translates that verdict into a new, fair  I.R. legal framework, that becomes becomes the core question for the trade union movement in 2008.

It is also a key issue for the wider community who voted in droves against WorkChoices because its impact was so draconian and unfair.

However conservative, pro-employer commentators are continuing to do the ground work to see as much of WorkChoices saved as possible.

Rolling back WorkChoices in general is painted as ‘feeding inflation’ or union representation of workers in collective bargaining in particular is deemed ‘fraught with danger’!

The hatred of organised labour is very deep-seated.

Because the new government in Canberra has flagged a ‘slowly, slowly’ approach to IR such as a transition bill first and a substantive bill later, the employers have sensed an opportunity to advance and take more ground.  Instead of taking the election result as a clear sign that ‘enough is enough’ they have been re-invigorated by Rudd and Gillard’s stated willingness to “listen” to the business sector.  Then there is the conviction that the new government will govern for the whole nation and therefore there will be no “special treatment” offered to the industrial wing.
Trade unions are not demanding ‘special treatment’.  They just want Howard’s ideologically imposed restrictions on union ability to represent workers collectively  lifted.
The rush by employers in recent times to lodge AWA’s has been sickening.  One large company recently offered $10,000 one-off bribes to its employees to switch from a collective agreement to AWA’s.  The likes of BHP Billiton, Telstra and the Commonwealth Bank have clogged up the machinery of the Workplace Authority seeking approval of thousands of AWA’s in an unabashed attempt to by-pass any new legislation due in  2008.
The fact that this AWA push is so blatant shows the contempt they have for the incoming administration.  Rudd and Gillard’s authority is being undermined very early in the piece.
The developing situation means that unions have to move on quickly from celebrating the well deserved demise of John Howard and focus on achieving a worthwhile result, sooner rather than later.
In fact, with the employers behaving the way they are, there is no time to lose.

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