[Maybe ball-and-chains, whips and bread-and-water-diet would satisfy the Chamber of Commerce... --- Trudy] THE AGE http://www.theage.com.au/daily/990930/news/news8.html September 30, 1999 Reith laws too soft: employers By ANDREA CARSON WORKPLACE REPORTER The Howard Government's controversial second wave of industrial relations changes does not go far enough, according to one of the nation's largest employer groups. In its submission to the senate inquiry into the More Jobs, Better Pay Bill, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry attacked the bill for not moving beyond the 1996 Workplace Relations Act. The chamber said it wanted ``far more substantial changes to the federal labor relations system than is provided in this bill''. The chamber's industrial spokesman, Mr Reg Hamilton, said the bill was evolutionary and not revolutionary: ``We say that because all the essential labor relation institutions and laws remain. They are modified but they still remain.'' Mr Hamilton said under the proposed bill, awards would still be ``very comprehensive'' and unfair dismissal laws would remain ``quite rigorous''. In contrast, the chamber was seeking more extreme changes, such as to further restrict compulsory arbitration to only intractable disputes (that fall in the public policy arena), essential services, and some unfair dismissal cases. It wanted awards to be replaced by minimum statutory standards based on five core areas: equal pay, annual leave, sick leave, adult wages and junior wages. The industry group's submission was also critical of schedule four and five of the bill, which covered conciliation and arbitration: ``We don't like the idea of charging for voluntary conciliation. We prefer the South Australian coalition approach where the Government would fund private mediation,'' Mr Hamilton said. In a blow to the Workplace Relations Minister, Mr Peter Reith, the chamber also did not support the prohibition of site agreements covered in schedule 14. ``It would make running a site impractical in the building and mining industries. There needs to be some modification of those proposals,'' Mr Hamilton said. The chamber was also ambivalent about the Government's proposal to limit the appointment of Australian Industrial Relations commissioners to a maximum of seven years. In its submission it stated that the commission should be free of government interference, and to change a commissioner's tenure would not improve the commission's neutrality. Earlier this week, the ACTU called on the Senate inquiry to dismiss the bill. The ACTU president, Ms Jennie George, said it would further weaken the safety net award system; unfairly strengthen employers' bargaining positions with workers; restrict unions' power to represent workers and further limit the Industrial Relations Commission. Yesterday scores of women protested against the bill outside the Treasury building. The Victorian Trades Hall Council's assistant secretary, Ms Natalie Sykes, said ``This bill is a disgusting attempt to force women out of the workforce.'' Meanwhile, the Federal Government said yesterday it would table some minor changes to the bill this week after talks with representatives from employer, employee, women and social policy groups. The changes included greater powers to the employment advocate to act on behalf of employees. The inquiry begins tomorrow and is to report on 29 November. ************************************************************************* This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
