Tuesday, June 09, 2015

Qld: Newman government's draconian industrial relations laws quashed

KIM LANDERS: Last year Queensland's public hospital doctors staged angry public protests and threatened mass resignations when the then Newman government decided to force them onto individual contracts.

Now the doctors are just one of the groups to benefit from the Labor Government's decision to restore collective bargaining rights.

The reversal of the Newman government's industrial relations laws also reinstates the power of unions to enter work sites, sparking criticism about union influence on the now Labor Government.

STEPHANIE SMAIL: When the former Newman government announced it would force public hospital specialists on to individual contracts, they hit back.

QUEENSLAND DOCTOR: We are not going to give in to this threat, we are not going to give in to bullies. We are going to face them down and they do not know the anger that is within us.

STEPHANIE SMAIL: The doctors threatened to resign en masse and move interstate or overseas to find better conditions.

QUEENSLAND DOCTOR 2: This is not a bluff because the conditions are so bad. Doctors are usually conservative but it's made us so angry that we are prepared to walk.

STEPHANIE SMAIL: Last night the Queensland Parliament reversed that decision as part of the Palaszczuk Government's overhaul of industrial relations laws.

The president of the Queensland branch of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Shaun Rudd says doctors will welcome the move.

He says it will give doctors a fair dispute-resolution process.

SHAUN RUDD: Unfortunately we've gone through all this process now, we'll probably to back to where we were before we started so unfortunately the disruption that that it's caused and the angst that it has caused.

STEPHANIE SMAIL: The overhaul will reverse other aspects of the Newman government's crackdown on public servants too.

Parliament has agreed to restore the rights of unions to enter work sites and allow the Industrial Relations Commission to set awards without considering the financial position of employers.

The laws also return protections against contracting out government services.

STEPHANIE SMAIL: Queensland's Public Sector Union argues the overhaul will return fair conditions to workers.

Alex Scott is the secretary of the Together Union.

ALEX SCOTT: I think it's part of the process of restoring fairness to the industrial relations system. There were a range of appalling measures made by the previous Newman government in relation to public sector workers both in terms of the sacking of thousands of workers but also in terms of stripping of conditions in the middle of the night in contrary to pre-election commitments given by the Newman government.


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