Red Rag

The Clerk of the Senate, Harry Evans, has criticised the Government’s industrial relations propaganda plans, saying they lacked transparency and accountability, and might be unconstitutional. The Government responded by suggesting — hypothetically, of course — that Evans uses amphetamines. When grilled by Coalition Senators, the Clerk explained why he raised his concerns: “Now, if you only keep Advisors to say that everything you’ve done is totally correct and perfect, then it’s not much good keeping them at all.” He says he is not partisan, and last time government advertising was a political issue, the Government relied on the advice of “one of the nation’s foremost legislative experts, Harry Evans, the Clerk of the Senate” to defend itself. Labor has proposed legislation to increase accountability.

The Office of Workplace Services, the Government agency that will police workplaces instead of the independent Industrial Relations Commission, has no staff in Western Australia, Queensland, Tasmania or South Australia. Its online services are mainly accessed by employers.

Instead of using TAFEs to address the skills shortage, the Government is using them to enforce its ideological agenda — they will lose funding if TAFE administrations choose not to offer AWAs to their staff. And schools will be next: the Government will “play hard” in overriding State responsibilities to push AWAs.

The Australian’s Paul Kelly suggests Howard will make a “modest concession” on IR, perhaps by “cutting from 100 to 50 employees the size of a company exempt from the unfair dismissal laws”. Industry is urging him to stand firm, to maximise “flexibility” by undermining workers’ rights.

While the majority of Australians remain opposed to the Government’s industrial relations agenda, John Howard has the support of a multimillionaire employer who was prepared to pay $25 000 for the chance to talk to the PM about the need to squeeze workers. Hagen Stehr’s wife was impressed by how well Jeannette Howard organised the dinner (I’m sure she prepared the meal herself…) and said, “It was just like visiting friends.”

Sixty-four national womens’ organisations have raised concerns about the impact of the proposed industrial relations changes on women, due to their relative “lack of bargaining power, bargaining confidence and information about workforce rights and terms and conditions”. Marie Coleman said, “Some are concerned by the impact for women clustered in unskilled part-time jobs, mostly paying around $13 an hour. If we don’t protect the capacity of these women to have some family life as well as earn a modest income, we are going to really damage Australian families”.

Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane has revealed the Government’s wage-cutting agenda. In an unguarded comment at the end of an interview on talkback radio, he said, “We’ve got to ensure that industrial relations reform continues so we have the labour prices of New Zealand.” Wages in New Zealand are significantly lower than in Australia. Stephen Smith said this meant John Howard’s discussion of China and India took on a new significance: “It’s now a race to the bottom, as if somehow we can compete with China or India by adopting their wage levels.”

In a surprise move, ACTU secretary Greg Combet used a speech to the Australian Industry Group to propose a system of union recognition ballots similar to those used in England, Canada and the United States. Combet outlined the UK model:

If more than 50% of the employees are union members, collective bargaining is automatically recognised and there can be no contest about it. If less than 50% of the employees are unionised, and there is no voluntary recognition of collective bargaining by the employer, then a ballot of the employees can be conducted by a Government agency. A ballot will only be held if at least 10% of employees are union members.

Collective bargaining recognition occurs if a majority of those who vote, vote in favour. A good faith bargaining process then ensues. It is a breach of good faith for an employer to offer individual contracts. Once a collective agreement is reached it is binding and enforceable upon both parties for its term. The employer cannot contract out of the agreement by entering into individual contracts with employees, and the union is similarly legally bound to respect the agreement.

The ABC’s Alison Caldwell noted the possibility that this might backfire if employees voted against the union, but Combet thinks it a risk worth taking. The CPSU has endorsed Combet’s idea: “Yes, this proposal puts pressure on unions to get out and win the hearts and minds of a majority of workers, but the CPSU welcomes that challenge.” The Government dismissed it out of hand.