By Brian Boyd, Victorian Trades Hall Council Secretary
The federal election is in full swing. 24 hour news services report everything, even the most banal of events and offer commentary.
One thing we can agree on, it is not the same as the lead up to 2007. 'Kevin 07' is already becoming a distant memory. Tony Abbott now leads the conservative forces and cannot hide his 'WorkChoices' DNA.
Both the ALP and Liberal/NP tried to insist IR law is not an issue, yet they have had to deal with it from the start of the official campaign. Why?
Simple. Because the union movement’s highly successful campaign to see off John Howard (2005-07) has left an indelible impact on the electorate’s psyche. The undermining of rights at work by Howard’s WorkChoices laws was over the top. His hatred of workers being able to get together at work and collectively bargain dripped from his 1000 plus pages of draconian regulations. It wasn’t a de-regulation of the labour market as claimed. It was over–regulation, aimed at stopping workers having the effective right to organise.
The Gillard Fair Work Act 2009 saw only the partial return of those lost rights.
Most unions have spent the last year or so adapting to the Fair Work Act, the so called Award Modernisation process and OHS 'harmonisation'. All very time consuming and often frustrating.
The ACTU leadership has made a few brief statements about the need for a second term IR agenda in the lead up to the federal election.
New ACTU President Ged Kearney said she wants 'a second round of workplace relations law changes that would give greater protection to union delegates, scrap the Australian Building and Construction Commission, allow industrial action in pursuit of pattern bargaining and expand wage deals to include clauses on non–workplace matters such as climate change and business practices' (The AFR 5/7/10).
ACTU Secretary Jeff Lawrence recently said: "The fact is we still have a system that doesn’t provide for free bargaining. It still doesn’t provide for bargaining to take place in an appropriate way." (The Australian 13/7/10).
Also at the recent ACTU Executive a comprehensive pre–federal election resolution was passed. It included strengthening workers’ rights and extending collective bargaining:
"The Executive recognises there is more work to do to secure and improve the rights of working Australians."
The union movement is not asking the Gillard Government to legislate to do the unions work for them. They simply need a freer bargaining and organising regime, consistent with long standing ILO conventions so they can do what unions do – work for their members, free of draconian, pro-employer laws.
Minister Crean said "he supports the ILO conventions". It wouldn't be difficult to amend the Fair Work Act to comply.
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Abbott facts
Abbott Facts: Health and Hospitals
When Tony Abbott was Health Minister in the Howard Government, $1 billion was cut from our public hospitals, and funding for GP training places was capped. This put more pressure on our doctors, nurses and hospital emergency departments.
Abbott Facts about Education cuts
Tony Abbott does not understand the importance of helping some students to start learning a trade whilst still at high school. He also claimed to be the principal draftsman of John Hewson's Fightback policy in 1993 which would have made it difficult for disadvantaged students to access tertiary education.Abbott Facts about WorkChoices
Abbott Facts: Climate Change
The Coalition neglected to take action to protect our environment for 12 years and now Tony Abbott says 'Climate Change is absolute crap'.Monday, August 02, 2010
More Nurses!
The Australian Nursing Federation said more beds without more nurses will create a crisis in care within nursing homes in Australia.
Federal Assistant Secretary Yvonne Chaperon said she is concerned Tony Abbott's pledge to providers of an incentive of $30,000 per bed ignores the often complex health needs of aged care residents. Beds without more nurses or a strategy to get more nurses into aged care, will create a crisis in the aged care sector.
"There is no detail about how that money is to be spent by the providers. The $30,000 per bed must to be tied to the nursing care of that resident, not left to the discretion of providers to spend where they want," she said.
"Who will care for these vulnerable and dependant older Australians? Extra beds without nurses to give quality healthcare will mean they miss out on the care and attention they need and deserve."
"Tony Abbott has pledged $14 million for pet therapy and yet has not mentioned nursing care."
" This is deeply concerning and indicative of a party who do not understand the basics of aged care and the vital role of nurses in the sector, to the residents and to their families."
"Nurses are already leaving aged care. They are underpaid by up to $300.00 per week when compared to nurses in the public sector and often have to work long and difficult shifts. Care staff are also expected to work outside their scope of practice including medicating residents. More beds without qualified nurses, proper consideration of skills mix and staffing levels will simply escalate these problems."
"This is a simplistic attempt to throw $935 million dollars of money at the aged care sector without considering all of the health and care needs of residents. That includes the need for skills mix and staffing levels for nurses. This shows that Mr Abbott does not have an understanding of the aged care industry in Australia," Ms Chaperon said.
Federal Assistant Secretary Yvonne Chaperon said she is concerned Tony Abbott's pledge to providers of an incentive of $30,000 per bed ignores the often complex health needs of aged care residents. Beds without more nurses or a strategy to get more nurses into aged care, will create a crisis in the aged care sector.
"There is no detail about how that money is to be spent by the providers. The $30,000 per bed must to be tied to the nursing care of that resident, not left to the discretion of providers to spend where they want," she said.
"Who will care for these vulnerable and dependant older Australians? Extra beds without nurses to give quality healthcare will mean they miss out on the care and attention they need and deserve."
"Tony Abbott has pledged $14 million for pet therapy and yet has not mentioned nursing care."
" This is deeply concerning and indicative of a party who do not understand the basics of aged care and the vital role of nurses in the sector, to the residents and to their families."
"Nurses are already leaving aged care. They are underpaid by up to $300.00 per week when compared to nurses in the public sector and often have to work long and difficult shifts. Care staff are also expected to work outside their scope of practice including medicating residents. More beds without qualified nurses, proper consideration of skills mix and staffing levels will simply escalate these problems."
"This is a simplistic attempt to throw $935 million dollars of money at the aged care sector without considering all of the health and care needs of residents. That includes the need for skills mix and staffing levels for nurses. This shows that Mr Abbott does not have an understanding of the aged care industry in Australia," Ms Chaperon said.
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Our Choice: not WorkChoices
Paul Doughty, Unions NSW campaign organsier, said he was concerned that if the Coalition wins the election, Tony Abbott would again introduce the industrial relations changes brought in with the WorkChoices legislation in 2006.
"Under WorkChoices, hundreds of thousands of regional Australians lost protection from unfair dismissal, and Australian Workplace Agreements were used to cut pay and conditions. Often isolated from a union, workers had few rights or the ability to express them," Mr Doughty said.
Maralyn Schofield, co-ordinator of the NRCLC, said that many people in low paid jobs came through the legal centre and that the youngest in society would be hardest hit by any industrial relations changes.
"Retail is the single biggest industry in this region and has predominantly young workers," Ms Schofield said. "Young people often don’t have the confidence to negotiate and under individual workplace agreements, these people will be paid lower than Award wages and can be sacked without recourse."
While Tony Abbott has said he would not reintroduce WorkChoices legislation, Mr Doughty believes that Mr Abbott could change the regulations, which would have the same effect on workers as the legislative changes.
"Tony Abbott will reintroduce WorkChoices by stealth," Mr Doughty said. "He was one of the architects of WorkChoices in 2001 and was a hard-liner on the issue. He may choose to call it another name but we know that he believes in it.
"He has already said that 'students are ready and willing to work' and will sell it as 'any wage is better than no wage'. We need to think critically before we believe what he is telling us."
Mr Doughty said that at the moment, many of the three-year AWA contracts signed when WorkChoices was introduced are due to expire.
"We saw a big rush of AWAs prior to the previous election, Mr Doughty said. “When they were introduced the last time, 75% of AWAs cut penalty rates and 80% removed annual leave loading."
Punita Boardman said that discrimination issues could become a nightmare if unfair dismissal laws were changed.
"Under WorkChoices, employers could dismiss an employee 'for operational reasons'," Ms Boardman said. "When Fair Work Australia was brought in under the Labor government, this was no longer a valid reason for dismissal and employers had to prove there was a genuine reason."
Thursday, July 29, 2010
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