Stuart Munckton
Last year, PM John Howard's Coalition government used its Senate majority to force through the Work Choices legislation, against widespread community opposition. This nasty piece of anti-worker legislation has the aim of shifting even more wealth into the hands of the rich by driving down workers' wages and conditions. It outlaws most forms of union organising and aims to drive more workers onto individual contracts so that they will have to negotiate one-on-one with their employer.
Under the laws, the minimum wage will be set by a government-appointed "Fair Pay Commission", whose chairperson, Ian Harper, refused to rule out a cut in the minimum wage according to the February 17 Australian Financial Review. A pamphlet distributed by Unions NSW about the impact of the laws on working students pointed out that the government has said the minimum wage is $70 per week too high.
But working people are fighting back. The November 15 nationwide protest called by the union movement, which brought 600,000 people to the streets against the Work Choices legislation, was the largest protest for workers' rights in Australia's history. The struggle has not ended with the passing of the legislation last year, and another national day of protest has been called by the trade union movement for June 28.
This fight is especially important for young people, who are already among the most exploited sectors of the work force, a situation that stands to get even worse under Work Choices. The majority of university students also work, often in casual jobs with poor conditions and little job security. The Unions NSW pamphlet reports that students working part-time in supermarkets in New Zealand are currently earning 43.3% less than in 1991 when laws very similar to Work Choices were implemented there. The pamphlet highlights a quote from the minister for industry, Ian McFarlane, who said, "We've got to ensure that industrial relations reform continues so we have the labour prices of New Zealand".
An example of the type of exploitation that will get worse under Work Choices is the attack on young workers at Bakers Delight in regional Victoria. A March 2 press release by the Australian Council of Trade Unions reports that young workers will lose their sick pay, annual leave entitlements and penalty rates for working overtime or on weekends for only a $0.75 per hour pay increase under new individual contracts. This means a 16-year-old employee working on weekends or a public holiday would get only $8.13 per hour, yet if they were covered by the award rather than a workplace agreement, they would receive $17.88 per hour for the same work.
We don't have to sit back and take these attacks. Finance minster Nick Minchin admitted to the ultra-
conservative HR Nicholls Society in a talk on March 3 that "Poll after poll demonstrated that the Australian people don't agree at all with anything we're doing on this". If this sentiment can be translated into action, working people have the power to force the government to back down, or make the bosses too scared to use the laws.
Young people need to be in the forefront of an ongoing campaign to defeat this attack. May Day marches will be an opportunity to protest against the legislation. Resistance is also determined to help organise young people to be part of the June 28 protests. We will be organising "Up yours Howard" contingents of young workers and students and calling on high school students to join workers and strike rather than go to school on that day.
With Minchin telling the suits at the HR Nicholls Society that the government has further plans for more attacks on workers, we have to stand up and fight for our rights.
From Green Left Weekly, March 15, 2006.
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