As Australian trade unionists prepare for the latest National Week of Action, broader consequences of the IR changes are becoming apparent. And they are not good for democracy.
Some of the less scrutinised clauses in WorkChoices relate to industrial action, and the severe restrictions that now apply.
Employers now have no option but to dock workers who attend rallies this week four hours pay. In the construction industry, it goes even further, where workers face criminal charges under the government's special laws for the building industry.
Some employees, emboldend by the new powers are going further - Australia Post, for example, is threatening to take formal disciplinary action against workers who march.
These threats will keep some works away, but they also turn those who to attend into heroes, prepared to put their own well being on the line.
It is just the pointy end of an all-out assault on the right to strike - with costly secret ballots now required before workers can withhold their labour.
At the same time the government has handed itself unprecedented power to rule any strike unlawful, exposing unions and individual workers to any economic loss incurred.
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