While the Coalition federal government is hell bent on pandering to big business's agenda, it is undermining the quality of life of every Australian. The new industrial relations legislation, and specifically individual contracts, which are already being forced on workers, are undermining our wages and conditions.
This is especially so for women, who make up the largest proportion of the casual and part-time workforce. Most of these workers rely on the safety net of awards and the minimum wage.
We are finding ourselves on a slippery slope, being forced to grossly undervalue our own labour. This is creating a dog-eat-dog working environment where, for example, a woman relying on child care can't compete with another worker who doesn't have the same responsibilities.
This situation puts downward pressure of wages and conditions, and, when the costs of child care are taken into consideration, makes working un-affordable for some women, forcing them to be economically dependent on other people.
A collective agreement in my industry (I am a construction electrician) addresses the need to employ women, train apprentices and look after the interests of older workers. It also gives me the right to union representation and safe working conditions.
Without this collective agreement I would be forced to compete with workers who can be more flexible and work more overtime. Without this collective agreement I wouldn't have a job.
We all have to understand that the only reason workers in this country have any safety nets at all is because of unions — workers organising collectively. Without unions and collective agreements we would not have superannuation, sick leave, paternity and maternity leave, redundancy pay, decent rates of pay, etc.
We need to see through the media's gross misrepresentation and one-sided portrayal of unions. When does the mainstream media report on all the good work that unions do in the community, like raising money for canteens, breakfast programs for school kids, charity drives and raising awareness of youth homelessness?
Does anyone really believe the government will make sure tradespeople are of a high standard? Would the average punter prefer their house to be wired by a one-year trained electrical worker or an A-grade, four-year trained electrician?
Why didn't the Howard government address skills shortages years ago? Because its agenda all along has been to undermine the apprenticeship system, thus lowering wages and conditions.
And the government won't address the under-representation of women workers in industries such as mine. Unions do that.
Why wouldn't we want our daughters to have the same opportunities to enter trades? It sure beats being a till operator, in my opinion.
Who does the Howard government think it is to disregard the wages, conditions, safety standards and quality of life that have been fought for by workers over hundreds of years!
Vanessa Garbett
Mitcham, Vic
From Green Left Weekly, September 14, 2005.
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