Liam Mitchell, Sydney
Individual contracts, Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs), non-union agreements — call them what you will, they are a major part of the federal Coalition government's workplace "reforms". Their main purpose is to break down hard-won conditions and pay rates, and make sure unions are less able to ensure that workers get what they are entitled to under the award system or a collective agreement.
PM John Howard wants to make it easier for employers to enforce AWAs as the main way of determining wages and conditions. The Coalition says awards will still exist and workers will have a choice, but the lies are becoming increasingly obvious as more and more people are forced to sign AWAs when starting work or as part of a cost-cutting drive.
The government's propaganda claims that it is all about flexibility and choice, yet most workers are now being offered jobs on the condition that they sign an AWA. The government's changes will also make AWA conditions secret, unable to be communicated to third parties.
According to Unions NSW, Centrelink staff have been instructed to cut unemployment benefits to people who refuse to take work under an AWA even if it is inferior to award conditions.
In the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, AWAs have been made a requirement of employment for all new employees. Other government departments have already pushed large numbers of public servants onto AWAs and universities are being told that all new employees must be offered AWAs or their funding will be cut.
This is all happening before the government has even introduced its legislation into parliament.
AWAs are supposed to be scrutinised by the Office of the Employment Advocate (OEA) using a "no disadvantage test". Even when this test is applied, which is not always, an AWA that reduces conditions can be approved. Under Howard's new laws, this test will be cut.
Unions NSW has been running a "name and shame" campaign targeting employers who use individual contracts to lower wage costs. A number of companies have already been outed.
LMJ Services runs 14 Pizza Hut franchises in Sydney's northern suburbs, rural NSW and Canberra. The more than 100 young workers at these outlets have been forced to cash in all their annual leave and public holiday loadings, but have still ended up with less pay than they had under the union-negotiated contract.
LMJ set up a shelf company to transfer the eight workers at one of the smallest outlets onto AWAs. It then used this company to force workers at other sites onto AWAs.
Other food outlets are also stripping annual leave entitlements. A Jesters Pies franchiser told the July 8 Australian Financial Review that when a worker went to a job interview, he or she "knew the score" about holiday entitlements.
Even experienced tradespeople are suffering under AWAs.
An agreement certified in 2000 between the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) and Bytecraft gave technicians $54,000 per year. Bytecraft has since taken up a contract servicing TAB betting machines and its employees are now earning $27,000 per year on AWAs that have been approved by the OEA under an award that does not cover this area. The previous contractors were paying workers $44,000 to do the same job.
The AWAs also allow for summary dismissal, are silent about occupational health and safety, and pay about $1 above the minimum hourly wage rate.
In 2001, two ETU members were made redundant, despite there being more than enough work for them. The subsequent court case found that the company had discriminated against the two union members and awarded them $60,000 above their normal entitlements.
Call centre workers at Virgin have also been victims of their boss's push for lower costs. According to the United Services Union, workers at Virgin's call centres are $4000 per year worse off under their OEA-approved AWAs.
The OEA is also in on the act. A model AWA advertised on the authority's website for a painter falls $4 per hour short of collective agreements, before taking into account annual leave, leave loadings, travel allowances and productivity bonuses, which are not part of the AWA. It is also for a 40-hour week with no overtime penalty rates, rather than the award's 36-hour week.
The recently formed Union Activists' Network in Sydney has decided to prioritise solidarity actions with unions and workers fighting employers' attempts to introduce individual contracts and take away workers' conditions.
From Green Left Weekly, July 27, 2005.
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