In an era of free market extremism, the state systems form a buffer, not just for the workers they protect, but for the ideas behind them. As WorkChoices strip back rights and conditions, the NSW IRC is delivering minimum wage increases, maintaining harmonious work relations and enforcing its legislative mandate to put fairness in to the workplace. As State Labor Government's around the nation are discovering, these systems are one of their strongest assets in laying out their credentials to govern.
Cashing these in for a shot at running the national economy is a big gamble. Yes, you may gain power for a few terms, but then the pendulum swings back to the Tories the entire population will be at their mercy. Why would unions prefer hedging on the state systems where they have had far more electoral success?
Think of some of the recent advances from workplace surveillance protection to gender pay equity - devised in NSW, trialled here, then refined and adapted in the other states. Conversely, conversion of casual employment to secure work has been won at a federal level and then applied by state jurisdictions. The advances have ebbed and flowed between systems, but they have all been in a positive direction.
In this context it is easy to see why big business wants to see an end to the state systems where workers rights have been seeded and nurtured. Understanding the union movement's readiness to give them away is harder to fathom.
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