The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the
Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, November 12th, 2003.
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Stop Govt's savage anti-worker Bills
On November 6 the new Minister for Workplace Relations, Kevin Andrews
hit Parliament with a number of draconian, union-bashing Bills straight
out of the filing cabinets of former Ministers Peter Reith and Tony
Abbot. They will have extremely serious consequences for all workers if
allowed to pass through Parliament. The Bills would virtually outlaw the
right to strike, deny hundreds of thousands of workers award coverage,
increase the powers of employers and encourage casualisation of the
labour force.
by Anna Pha
One Bill specifically targets building and construction workers and
their right to collective bargaining, strike action and union
organisation. Another sets out to deny workers in "small businesses"
protection from legally binding awards.
The Minister specifically targeted nurses, teachers, carers, aged care
workers and childcare workers for attack in his second reading speech on
the misnamed Better Bargaining Bill.
The Bill should be called the No Bargaining Bill or No Workers' Rights Bill.
The legislation imposes severe limitations on industrial action. It
gives employers greater power to avoid negotiations with workers and
their unions.
Making collective bargaining impossible
It would make it almost impossible for many workers and their trade
unions to collectively bargain for better wages and conditions or to
even defend existing provisions of enterprise agreements.
The Choice in Award Coverage Bill, which should be called the No Award
Coverage Bill, seeks to deny workers employed in "small businesses" from
any award or collective agreement protection whatsoever.
In effect, "choice" is left to employers to decide whether workers will
have award coverage or not. The only choice workers have is to cop the
boss's offer or out the door.
The Bill defines small business in terms of less than 20 "employees" on
the day that a union serves a log of claims.
It encourages the hiring of casual labour by excluding from its
definition of an employee, casuals with less than 12 cumulative months
on the job.
Liberal MP Don Randall during the second reading debate summed up its
intent: "This is an excellent Bill which helps employers get a better deal".
Another Liberal MP Gregory Hunt also had an honest word to say about the
Bill: "It is about being able to work together in a stable and
harmonious environment where there are no union members and to thrive
and flourish as a business".
The equally misnamed Building and Construction Industry Improvement Bill
is based on recommendations of the Cole Royal Commission into the
building industry.
The Bill sets out to stop collective bargaining across the industry or
even across a whole building site.
It clearly defines lawful and unlawful industrial action with huge
penalties for workers and potential loss of all their assets (homes,
money in the bank, etc) if they take action regarded as unlawful.
It places severe restrictions on what is known as "protected" industrial
action.
It will be illegal to take industrial action to defend workers' health
and safety.
Contractors will be freed-up to de-unionise their workforces, undermine
the wages and conditions that were won over decades by trade unions.
When it comes to winning contracts, unionised companies adhering to
award wages and conditions, will miss out. In this way employers will be
penalised if they do not toe the Federal Government's anti-union line.
Unions' right of entry restricted
Unions will face heavy restrictions on the right of entry to service and
recruit members but building police inspectors will gain massive powers
to enter, interview workers, inspect documents, carry out investigations
and prosecute workers and trade union officials.
Despite the most recent deaths in the industry there is not a single
legislative provision to make employers liable for negligent and
criminal action in a workplace, not a single concrete provision to
ensure safer and healthier working conditions.
There is token recognition of unsafe working conditions and some
additional highly paid bureaucrats will be appointed to at best monitor
the situation.
There are altogether 12 vicious anti-trade union and anti-worker Bills
currently before Parliament.
The other Bills include Protecting the Low Paid, and Fair Termination -
which aim to do exactly the opposite of their title.
It is absolutely imperative that the union movement wage a massive
campaign to defeat these Bills.
While Labor and the Greens are opposed to them, the pressure must be
maintained to ensure that Labor and the Democrats do not negotiate any
compromises and that the four Senate Independents, who hold the balance
of power, are persuaded not to support this draconian, anti-trade union
legislation.
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