Monday, February 18, 2008

WorkChoices: Libs still lying

Claims by the former Minister responsible for ‘Work Choices’, Joe Hockey, that his Liberal Cabinet colleagues did not understand that workers would be worse off by the Liberals’ Work Choices laws are simply not believable, say unions.

ACTU President Sharan Burrow said:

“This is a case of the Liberals trying to rewrite history and cover up their real intentions. Mr Hockey’s claim, to be aired on ABC TV’s 4 Corners program tonight, is another attempt to mislead the Australian people.

“John Howard spent years refusing to guarantee that workers would not be worse off because he knew and the Coalition Cabinet knew that the clear intention of the laws was that big business would benefit at the expense of employees.

“Work Choices was a favour for the Liberals’ friends in big business and the Liberals were not listening to community concerns over cuts to workers’ job conditions and take home pay.

“The Liberals still are not listening to the community — otherwise they would not be blocking the Rudd Government’s ban to dismantle Work Choices and ban new Australian Workplace Agreements’ (AWAs),” said Ms Burrow.

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