Howard's high stakes IR gamble

There's another job that could be put at risk by these needless workplace changes - John Howard's. What Howard is proposing is the kind of change that costs governments elections, and flings parties into the wilderness, writes Tim Colebatch.

Some minor exceptions aside, these reforms change the rules in one direction. They remove rights, protections and bargaining power from 7 or 8 million Australians who work for companies. They give rights and bargaining power to employers.

For most workers, the key changes are that:

The no disadvantage test that was central to Howard's 1996 reforms is abolished.

Employers and workers will be able to sign agreements that remove workers' entitlements other than the four basic standards, for little or no compensation.

Workers will lose their protection against unfair dismissal.

Workers in workplaces of up to 100 workers will lose it completely. And an almost-unnoticed detail in the reform blueprint reveals that workers in larger workplaces too will lose their protection if the employer declares that "operational considerations" were a factor in their dismissal.

The removal of all the powers of the Industrial Relations Commission, except its power to punish unions for unauthorised industrial action. In the new rules, there is no umpire.

Outside the minimum wage and the four basic conditions, none of the rights the Government's ads declare "protected by law" are in fact protected. The employer just has to make sure that the worker's agreement spells out that they are being given up.

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