Brian Boyd, Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary, urged unions to "crank up" the campaign to have federal Labor restore genuine collective bargaining rights for workers.
He criticised the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister for favouring business when there was no recognition from the "big end of town" of the federal election mandate for a new and fairer national industrial relations system. "Rudd and Gillard bend over backwards to please the corporate sector, but get their noses rubbed in it nearly every day of the week," he said.
"No assistance from this sector for the fight against globalwarming; sackings occur on a huge scale undermining government economic credentials; and the blatant ongoing use of Work Choices is making them look silly."
Mr Boyd accused Ms Gillard of "mocking" employer and union representatives who were working through the details of the proposed new workplace relations bill. Ms Gillard said last month the Committee on Industrial Legislation thought nothing of sitting around a table and poring over clauses for hours.
"They love it. And we're going to keep slipping the pizza to them under the door and passing the cans of Coke through the service hatch until they get the details right," she said.
Mr Boyd said: "Julia Gillard might think it's a joke, but many hundreds of thousands of Australian workers who marched across the nation against Howard don't think it is funny.
"They expect IR laws that will give back their collective bargaining rights. They also want the Government to resist the push-back from employers intent on keeping as much of Howard's IR legacy in place as possible.
"In particular, workers expect their trade union negotiators to pay a lot of attention to the detail. From hard experience workers know the cashed-up employers will manipulate the law in the courts for years over any issue."
The Government's new workplace relations bill could be introduced late next month or in November. Mr Boyd said it was an understatement that unions were getting restless.
"On recent speculation about Peter Costello staying on or not in federal politics, Julia Gillard said she would welcome Costello being on the front bench of the Opposition and would relish reminding the Australian public that Costello was one of the key architects of the previous government's Work Choices legislation," he said.
"Fair enough, but as each day passes, as each month goes by, it is Gillard being seen as the new keeper and perpetuator of that very same draconian legislation."
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