John Howard's Brave New IR World

No longer does the Howard Government pretend that no worker will be worse off under a conservative government. When it came time for the Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews to preach his new policy he said outright that ideas of fairness in the workplace were 'misconceived'. Fairness created inefficiency, he claimed.

In fact these policies are so unfair that the purportedly pios and religious minister is in trouble with teh Church. According to the Australian the Australian Catholic COmmission for Employment Relations are set to put thier case against the government package.

Many of the new policies floated in the last week of February are actually old hat. They are a dogs breakfast of John Howard's IR policies from the Thatcher days mixed with lots of anti-worker ideology from the rampant right Business Council of Australia that could never before see the light of day thanks to the senate. They are old and being recycled because they were so over the top the relatively conservative Democrats would not have a bar of them. Until now the worst of the government's industrial relations policy have always been blocked in the Senate.

IR became constipated - stuck in the proverbial system. But no longer. The election last year let everything loose. As of July 1, the government seizes control of both houses. And they will use it to also take control of workers' lives. Or more accurately hand control over to what could become a corporate dictatorship.

No doubt the minister also believes that the workplace, like Italian trains, will run on time under fascism. The government also contends it will stop interest rates rising.

If that's not enough they also aim to take over the state IR system.

As Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Smith pointed out, now the government has no opposition in the Senate, they are out to ensure they have no opposition in the states.

So what is the government going to do once no one can stop them? They are dismantling a 100 years of industrial relations (Commissions, awards and that means' workers' struggles). They are eliminating basic award rights like long service leave, notice of termination and superannuation; scrapping unfair dismissal laws so you can be sacked at a moments whim, and completely castrating the Commission by taking away its powers to set minimum wages or settle industrial disputes.

At the same time the Government will relax immigration regulations making it easier for the 26,000 foreign worker sponsored by Australian business each year to get permanent residency when their working visas expire. Australian jobs will no longer be advertised locally. They will go to immigrant workers.

The government is also dumping a century long ban on allowing guest workers to do unskilled work.

" Howard will have powers that no Prime Minister has had for 25 years," warned National Secretary Paddy Crumlin. "It amounts to a legislative "blank cheque".

In recent weeks all radical and extreme ideas and policies have been dusted off from the Conservative end of politics. Big business has gone on board as well, goading the Government to introduce radical and far-reaching changes to the Industrial Relations system."

On the eve of a cabinet meeting in February set aside to discuss the legislative agenda in industrial relations, the Business Council of Australia publicly urged the government to ignore any public debate about fairness or equity.

Instead, the BCA, a business group representing the CEOs of Australia's largest companies (led by the same chief executives who paid themselves $173 million last year all up) wants the government to completely rewrite workplace rules with a view of radically diminishing overall standards of employment and protection.

"One of the radical suggestions the BCA was urging is that the government abolish all awards and replace them with six minimum conditions," said the National Secretary. "For the 1.6 million workers relying on the award safety net, this would mean reductions in real rates of pay and the abolition of basic entitlements such as redundancy pay, overtime and weekend payments, public holidays, lunch and rest breaks, the 38 hour week and most other conditions currently legally protected".

Other changes proposed by the BCA would undermine the pay, conditions and job security of an additional 4.2 million workers covered by union and non-union collective agreements.

"Except for a privileged handful at the top, the bargaining power of most workers would be extensively weakened," said the National Secretary. "The BCA has argued that this is a recipe for prosperity, meaning that it is a recipe to further fill their guts with the profits of workers' labour. It is in fact a prescription for a fall in living standards, increased poverty, rising inequality and increased pressure on families to live, educate their children and access proper health care.

"It is clear that the government is almost exclusively working behind closed doors with their insider mates to deliver this radical agenda. There has been no objective or public review of the current industrial relations system, no process of consultation with unions or workers and no research into the potentially devastating effect these changes will have for most workers. "

In effect there has been no case made for change and to compound the arrogance and vandalism of Australian workers' rights, the Federal government has failed to address the real issues confronting the Australian economy such as the shortage of skills, the deficit of investment in infrastructure and research and development, and the protection of Australian industry from social dumping of labour and goods through the free market system.

The National Secretary also predicted that the government would have the full support in the coming months to dress up and market the so-called reforms with their mates in the media - all under the cloak of economic efficiency.

It is extremely important in the coming months that unions and others must ensure workers can clearly identify these changes for what they are - a direct attack on their freedom of association and basic economic and industrial rights in this country.