James Vassilopoulos
Seventy-two per cent of workers are not taken in by the federal Coalition government's argument that exempting companies with less than 100 employees from unfair dismissal laws will create jobs.
An ACTU-commissioned survey released on May 29 shows this percentage oppose the removal of protection from unfair dismissal. Sixty per cent of workers believe that the changes will be bad.
According to Sue Bolton, national trade union work coordinator for the Socialist Alliance, PM John Howard's plan for a multi-pronged attack on working people is "the most significant and far-reaching in 100 years". When his government takes control of the Senate in July, it will immediately move to increase big business' opportunities to exploit working people, but this will face resistance, she added.
The Coalition dishonestly hid its industrial relations plans during the long election campaign, and has gone in even harder than it was indicating it would at the beginning of this year.
The main assault will be on the way wages are determined: bosses will be able to sack workers more easily. Basic conditions, such as long-service leave and overtime pay, could be lost. Workers' rights to organise in a union will be further restricted.
"Howard claims his 'reforms' will not reduce minimum wages, abolish awards or remove the right to join a union or the right to strike", Bolton told Green Left Weekly. "But they will mean fewer wage rises and the gutting of awards. It will be more difficult to join a union and take strike action. Howard has also refused to come clean on whether workers would lose penalty rates and allowances under the new system."
The Coalition wants the minimum wage for the most vulnerable workers to be determined in a new way. Previously business, unions and the government made submissions to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC). Now the Australian Fair Pay Commission will decide on any wage rise.
This commission, which will be comprised of conservative economists, will base its considerations on the wants of big capital rather than the needs of ordinary workers. Unless there is a recession, it's unlikely that the minimum wage will be cut. However, it is likely that the new commission will grant smaller increases than the AIRC. If government submissions had been accepted in minimum wage cases, the minimum wage would be $44 (10%) lower than it currently is.
Award conditions will be cut from 20 to 16. Long-service leave, superannuation, jury duty and notice of termination will be removed entirely. However, it doesn't stop here. A task force will be set up to further "rationalise" awards and report in a year's time. It's highly likely that this award stripping will continue unless challenged. Workers who sign individual contracts and non-union agreements could end up with just four conditions.
The government's proposed exemptions from unfair dismissal laws for businesses employing less than 100 workers is ample evidence of its new onslaught against working people. This change will affect around 3.8 million workers across Australia, including 99% of all private sector firms.
But workers employed by large corporations will not be quarantined from this attack. They will have to be employed for more than six months before they are covered by the unfair dismissal laws.
The ACTU poll showed that 82% of workers were concerned by the government's push to remove collective bargaining in favour of individual contracts. As of April 2005, there were 434,500 Australian Workplace Agreements or individual contracts — about 5% of the workforce. This represents a 47% increase in the year to March.
The federal government is now planning to eliminate the "no disadvantage" test as it applies to awards to force workers to sign individual contracts. It's proposed that this clause will only apply to four basic conditions, meaning that bosses will be able to negotiate away overtime pay rates, casual loading and higher pay for shifts and weekend work. This is likely to substantially increase individual contracts, and will further undermine collective bargaining.
The government also plans to introduce a raft of measures to limit what unions are allowed to do. Unions will only have restricted access to workplaces. Secret ballots will be compulsory before workers are allowed to go on strike. Penalties for unionists who break the law, especially in the construction industry, will be stiffened. Pattern bargaining, a process where gains from a strong union workplace are extended to weaker sites, will become illegal.
There were no indications from the government earlier this year that Australian Workplace Agreements and non-union agreements would only have to comply with four minimum conditions plus the minimum wage. Currently, AWAs and non-union agreements have to comply with the 20 award provisions.
Why has the government gone in so hard? Bolton says: "Perhaps the Howard government took confidence from statements by some union leaders that the union movement would not respond to the new laws with strike action.
"However, some companies are fearful they will lose more than they will gain from the new laws if the union movement launches a sustained campaign of industrial action and mass protests."
The opinion polls commissioned by the ACTU indicate that the majority of workers are opposed to the new laws.
"The large turn-outs at the June 1 mass delegates' meeting in Perth and the May 27 Sky Channel delegates' meetings in New South Wales indicate that there is the basis for the sort of industrial campaign the employers fear.
"As Maritime Union of Australia delegate Sam Wainwright told 2000 delegates in Perth on June 1: 'It's going to be wave after wave [of protest] that sinks Howard and his ship of fools.'"
The ACTU poll revealed potential mass support for a systematic campaign against Howard's industrial relations agenda. Some 69% said the government's changes will create more fear in the workplace; 68% oppose a restriction of union access to workplaces; and 55% support a campaign against the industrial relation changes.
Mass protests in Western Australia, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania on June 30 and July 1 in New South Wales are likely to increase support for a united and determined fight to kill the industrial relations bill.
[James Vassilopoulos is a member of Australian Education Union.]
From Green Left Weekly, June 8, 2005.
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