BY IAN JAMIESON
PERTH — Unions in Western Australia have welcomed a package of industrial law reforms introduced by the Labor state government. Unions WA secretary Stephanie Mayman described Labor's bill as an important step forward but it "does not go as far as Unions WA would choose".
On June 27, WA's upper house voted 17-16 to replace most of the repressive industrial laws introduced by the previous Liberal government. Labor's bill must still pass the lower house before it becomes law.
Introduced five years ago, the "third wave" anti-union laws were met with demonstrations by tens of thousands of workers.
Liberal Premier Richard Court's attempts to crush trade unions and attack the workers' right to strike were precursors to the federal Workplace Relations Act, introduced by Peter Reith and pursued by his successor, Tony Abbott.
The parallels are striking. The Court government's 1997 labour bill prohibited all strikes unless authorised by a secret ballot. There were hefty fines for unions and unionists that failed to comply.
The bill also codified individual workplace agreements, eliminating collective bargaining in smaller, weaker workplaces. It sought to limit unfair dismissals, exempting small businesses altogether. It banned unions from implementing political levies of any kind.
Ministers were given the right to directly interfere in union affairs if a union sought federal award coverage to avoid the draconian impact of WA laws.
Even if workers complied with a secret ballot and voted to strike, the Industrial Relations Commission could invoke an ill defined "essential services" provision to halt it. Striking workers could face common law prosecution by their employers for damages.
Unions faced a lock out, with strict provisions on officials' right to enter a work site to represent their members. Officials had to submit their names to the employer before being allowed entry.
Little wonder that the workers' backlash to this bill was militant and massive. So deep was the anger, Court and his labour minister Graham Keirath shied away from enacting many of the bill's statutes. Opposition to the labour law was a major factor in the 2000 state elections in which the Liberals were defeated and Keirath lost his formerly safe Liberal seat.
However, it took 18 months before the Labor government finally moved to replace Keirath's law with an ALP-sponsored bill. The delay led to public grumbling within the trade union movement.
The major contentious issue is the replacement of individual workplace agreements with employer-employee contracts. The contracts will be based on basic award entitlements, an improvement on the previous law.
However, the legislation still allows employers to foist the minimum allowable conditions on non-union employees. Furthertmore, Labor's contracts still enshrine the repugnant right of the boss to circumvent collective bargaining in unorganised work places.
From Green Left Weekly, July 3, 2002.
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