Red Rag

Father Tony Percy explains how even tertiary-educated workers have difficulty negotiating on a genuinely equal footing with their employers: “A worker enters the room to negotiate a contract. His employers place on the desk a contract, which has been prepared by the legal department of the employer. Immediately we sense the problem. The employee has absolutely no clues about the subtlety of the contract he is signing. The employer does — his legal section or his employer group or association has had ample time to prepare it.” Online Opinion refers to Father Percy’s theology degree, but for some reason the editor removed a reference to his B Comm (Hons), which is far more pertinent to this piece.

Labor MP Justine Elliot argues that pensioners will be adversely affected by the Government’s IR reforms. Many pensions are indexed to average weekly earnings, the growth of which will slow under the new regime.

The National Party’s Queensland state conference will be held this Friday, and it will decide whether to support the Howard Government’s attempt to strip the States of their industrial relations powers. Laurence Springborg believes the conference will oppose the reforms, but says the results of such votes are “notoriously hard to predict.” Maverick Senator Barnaby Joyce will take the conference decision into account when deciding whether to cross the floor against the package.

Brisvegan bloggers Mark Bahnisch and John Quiggin have collaborated on a column about the IR proposals. They conclude: “The reforms proposed by the Howard government will tilt the balance strongly in favour of employers. The likely outcome is a substantial increase in inequality of incomes, and in day-to-day relationships within the workplace.”

The Liberal Party’s federal council recently voted against the IR reforms and in favour of States’ rights. Glenn Milne attributes this to the malign influence of Noel Crichton-Browne, though NCB disputes this and says Milne was badly briefed by Julie Bishop. But it Milne is right, then what do we make of his claim that Sophie Panopoulos worked hard behind the scenes to get the States’ rights vote up? (And according to Milne, she doesn’t deny involvement.) Howard put her in the Babysitters Club to supervise Kevin Andrews in selling the reforms — not to sabotage them.

Peter Costello has revealed that the Government’s IR plans are even bigger than those they have publicly announced. Costello says making unfair treatment of employees in small and medium businesses is the thin end of the wedge — he is “very open to the idea” that “in the years to come it should be extended to all companies.” Stephen Smith says the PM and his Treasurer are “competing on who could have the most extreme view on industrial relations.”

Business lobbyist Mark Bethwaite is peddling lies about the current unfair dismissal regime. He says:

Many [claims] relate to employees sacked for crimes against their employer, theft in particular. It is simply unacceptable that the courts should require employers to make unfair dismissal payouts to such employees because the required termination process, such as three written warnings, was not followed to the letter.

They don’t. The boss must make a reasonable effort to investigate the theft, give a reason for the termination, and give the employee an opportunity to respond (for example, by showing that they didn’t steal anything) — hardly an onerous burden when weighed against the injustice of sacking an innocent person. There is no need for three written warnings. Theft may be regarded as “serious misconduct” for the purposes of the Workplace Relations Act, which means that summary dismissal (without notice or a payout) is allowed.