Red Rag

Kevin Andrews yesterday explained meal breaks and public holidays would still be a “feature” of employment, but would not be guaranteed. Steve Fielding was not convinced: “The average Australian won’t accept the idea that people could be required to work seven days a week and not get a meal break … [a]nd they won’t accept not being guaranteed pay for taking a public holiday.” Barnaby Joyce was also unimpressed, saying, “You’d have no chance of pushing that donkey around the yard.”

The Canberra Times thinks the Government will respond to the union campaign by talking up its economic record, but isn’t convinced that strategy will work: “[W]hile most voters might intellectually appreciate the Government’s claim, the evidence is that this prosperity has not greatly enhanced feelings of job security, bargaining equality in the workplace, or confidence in the calibre or goodwill of management.” The paper notes that “a union campaign focused on that real sense of insecurity can hardly be said to be fundamentally dishonest.”

Builders in Victoria are concerned that the Government is deliberately sabotaging the industry to push its anti-union political agenda. One senior executive of an international building company told The Australian, ” hate to say this, but I feel it is almost as if the Government wants to create problems on building sites and then use them as a reason to further its agenda.” According to new rules, the Government must decide whether EBAs comply with a new code of conduct, but this process is causing unusual delays.

Last week lawyers representing Labor and the unions wrote to Kevin Andrews demanding answers about his advertising budget (pdf). The deadline having expired without a response, they have filed for an injunction against the propaganda campaign in the High Court, on the grounds that the $20 000 000 propaganda campaign was not accounted for in the budget. “We think that John Howard is spending taxpayers’ money illegally and we want it stopped,” said Nicola Roxon.

Kevin Andrews’ staff want your support for their current employment negotiations.