Howard’s anti-worker agenda

By Peter Murphy, National Publicity / Research Officer

On December 21, 2004, John Howard became the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister when he passed Bob Hawke's record of eight years, nine months and fifteen days. In lengthy media interviews, the Prime Minister stated: "We are not going to disappoint people. ... The people gave us control of the Senate for a reason, because they supported us. They gave it very deliberately, they will therefore get the government they voted for, which they are entitled to have. But they didn't vote for a government that is going to sort of become extreme, and we won't". (Sydney Morning Herald, December 18-19, 2004, p 30)

The Prime Minister learnt long ago not to say what he was doing, just do it, so his use of the term 'extreme' has to be taken as a flimsy piece of spin.

There is a long queue of industrial bills in the parliament, some of them rejected many times over by the Senate because they are extreme in their impact on workers. These are the immediate agenda for the Howard government, which will try to browbeat the Senate into passing them before the end of June 2005, and will pass them rapidly after the new Senate stars operating from August 9.

Right-of-Entry

This Bill is aimed at reducing the right-of-entry of union officials to workplaces as set out now in the federal Workplace Relations Act, and to override almost all State right-of-entry provisions.

It restricts the current federal right-of-entry, by allowing the written permits to officials to specify which buildings in a workplace they may enter, and what time of day they may enter. Further, the Industrial Registrar must refuse to give a permit to someone who is not 'fit and proper' - for example, if the official has had a previous permit revoked, has been fined under the Act, or committed an 'offence' under the Act.

Employers can request that conditions be put on permits for individual officials or whole unions or that they be revoked or cancelled. The Commission itself may decide to do all this.

A permit holder has to give 14 days notice to view and copy employment records at the workplace. He or she has to give a minimum of 24 hours notice to enter a workplace to see if there is a breach of the Act or an Agreement.

However, union officers are not restricted from entry to investigate breaches of Occupational Health & Safety laws, and if the employer consents, entry to the workplace can be unlimited.

While some unions in the service sector work under conditions of no right of entry now, this Bill would radically change the ground rules for organising in traditional industries with strong unions.

The Bill will come before the Senate in February.

Redundancy payments for small business employees

In March 2004, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission ruled on a union test case that the standard redundancy clause for large businesses - 15 or more employees - should be extended to businesses with less than 15 employees.

The basic redundancy clause is a range of four weeks pay after one year of service, up to eight weeks pay after four year's service. The Bill is designed to cancel that decision of the Commission.

This Bill does not threaten current union activity, but reinforces the precarious situation for employees in small businesses.

This Bill will return to the Senate in March.

Unfair dismissals

Following its Orwellian logic, the government calls this Bill "Fair Dismissal Reform". It would allow employers in workplaces of less than 20 workers to sack an employee, and the employee would have no right of appeal to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission using the provisions of the federal Workplace Relations Act 1996.

The 'less than 20 employees' includes the sacked worker and any casuals who have been employed for 12 months or more, but not casuals employed for less than a year.

While this 'unfair dismissal' issue is an icon for the Howard government, this law would not greatly affect current union activity. It would greatly add to the insecurity of workers in small enterprises.

This Bill will come before the Senate in June.

Deeper anti-worker agenda

However, there is an employer / government push for a more fundamental change in industrial laws, and the Howard government must be expected to initiate this after its frustrated bills come into law.

The Howard government itself has plans to create a federal system of vocational training colleges where all the employees would be on individual contracts - Australian Workplace Agreements. And the Nelson Higher Education reform was stripped of its anti-union and anti-strike provisions, and 'voluntary student unionism' clauses before it was passed by the Senate last year.

The Australian Industry Group, which represents manufacturers, has urged the Howard government to radically cut the number of federal Awards from 2,200 down to just 20, or abolish them altogether. The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry agrees and also wants the functions of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission cut way down to just setting minimum standards for safety nets. The National Farmers Federation wants the AIRC out of wage-setting altogether.

From July it will be possible for Howard to move as far as he can to an individualist industrial relations system of greatly limited union organising scope and bargaining power - totally ineffective awards and Industrial Relations Commission.