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Federal Government Backdown on New IR Laws Does Not Go Far Enough : ACTU

A report today that the Federal Govt is considering changes to its IR regulations less than six months after they were introduced show that the new laws are too extreme, already leading to many workers being sacked unfairly and suffering cuts to their job conditions and take home pay says the ACTU.

Commenting on a report of IR regulation amendments by Brad Norington in 'The Australian' newspaper, ACTU President Sharan Burrow said today:

"These changes do not go far enough.

They seem to involve only minor amendments to the Government's new watered-down sick leave provisions.

The changes do not reinstate protection for workers from being sacked unfairly and they fail to prevent cuts to workers' conditions like penalty rates, overtime, public holidays and take-home pay.

What the Government is saying to Australian workers is that under the IR laws you are only guaranteed five minimum conditions - everything else can be cut by an AWA individual contract.

We already know that every new AWA individual contract registered since the new IR laws were introduced on 27 March this year has removed at least one protected award condition.

The Government promised to protect public holidays but the official data shows that public holiday entitlements were cut in 40% of all new AWA individual contracts.

Two thirds of AWA individual contracts remove penalty rates, overtime payments and leave loading, more than half (52%) cut shift loadings and around a quarter of new AWA individual contracts individual contracts (22%) contain no pay increases over the life of the agreement.

These IR laws are grossly unfair to working families and this bit of window-dressing by Kevin Andrews doesn't change that.

Under the IR laws workers have no legally enforceable right to collectively bargain for decent pay and conditions with their employer.

On Melbourne radio last Friday, Prime Minister John Howard categorically committed his Government to opposing any right for Australian workers to collectively bargain with their employer, even where that is what a majority of employees in a workplace want.

The PM said: "Now our position is very clear and that is that it's for the employer to determine the nature of the industrial arrangement in a workplace ... And we also support the right of the employer to decide the nature of the industrial structure."

This shows that under Work Choices the Federal Government has unashamedly handed employers the unilateral right to make all the decisions about how and on what terms Australian workers will be employed.

This is the harsh reality of the Government's new IR laws that cannot be fixed by the tinkering to regulations that has been reported today," said Ms Burrow.