Graham Matthews, Sydney
Along with the Howard government's Work Choices Bill, draft laws have been introduced into the federal parliament to restrict the rights of industrial subcontractors, particularly in the transport and building industries.
Under the new legislation, which alters the Trade Practices Act, subcontractors will lose their right to be covered under an award. They will lose their right to belong to a union (although they may appoint a union as their bargaining agent), and lose access to the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) for redress of industrial disputes.
Employment contracts will have to be made by subcontractors under the provisions of the Trade Practices Act. All agreements will have to be approved by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
"It's one thing to go to the IRC, it's quite another to go to the courts", Raul Bassi, a member of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and a subcontractor, told Green Left Weekly. "If we have to go through common law, how are we going to compete with the bosses?"
While subcontractors were covered by union lawyers in industrial disputes under existing provisions, Bassi was uncertain if this would be possible under the new regime, leaving the prospect of workers being faced with enormous legal fees should they want to challenge bosses' decisions.
While all workers could be forced to take individual contracts under the Work Choices legislation, the attacks on subcontractors were even more severe, Bassi warned. The Howard government's ultimate aim was "to make every worker a subcontractor", and make collective bargaining impossible, he argued.
Bassi expressed concern at the TWU's limited campaign against the attacks on sub-contractors' rights. While he welcomed the prospect of a strike on November 15 that may be called by the union, he hoped that further action would be organised.
From Green Left Weekly, November 9, 2005.
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