Red Rag

• The Government’s CFMEU-busting body will be headed by John Lloyd, a Liberal stooge who played a leading role in the attacks of the Kennett (Vic) and Court (WA) Liberal governments on workers’ rights. In his first media conference after taking the job, he did not rule out using the ABCC’s powers in a Gestapo type way:

  JOURNALIST: Mr Lloyd, the unionists have been very critical of these moves and have suggested that these new powers will be used in a Gestapo like way. What’s your response to that?

  JOHN LLOYD: Well, if they are used in the Gestapo type way, the commission will, as I say, use whatever powers it has available to it to respond to the cases which it is investigating in which it feels appropriate to institute proceedings.

• While Kevin Andrews has successfully bullied the Archdiocese of Melbourne into submission, the Australian Catholic Commission for Employment Relations is not so easily pushed around. In a briefing paper for Catholic bishops, ACCER said it has “particular problems with the introduction of a minimum wage based on the requirements of a single adult employee without family responsibilities; the abolition of unfair dismissal rights in businesses of less than 100 employees; and changes to the no-disadvantage test that is applied to collective and individual agreements.”

• The IMF supports the Government’s IR plans, because it understands what their real goal is: cutting wages. The IMF complains that “minimum wages are relatively high at almost 60 percent of median earnings of full-time male employees”, and notes that abolishing the no-disadvantage test and establishing a low pay commission will undermine the current egalitarian system. (Update: See Ross Gittins.)

• Although their advertisements are no longer on television, unions have continued a grass-roots campaign to inform the community about the Government’s plans. And it’s not just preaching to the converted: “I’m a pretty conservative sort of bloke, raced three kids, average family, um and yet this particular issue has made me come and attend this type of union meeting for the first time in my life.”

• Although Telstra would have contributed to Howard’s recent popularity fall, it is industrial relations that is changing votes: “For consumers, or the Australian community in general, the government’s proposed workplace changes were considered negative pretty much every way you looked at it.”

• After selling out his constituents on the sale of Telstra, Mark Vaile is desperately trying to convince his fellow National MPs to tow the Liberal line on industrial relations. He wants to see the detail as soon as possible (don’t we all!), and says he will “concentrate on passing the workplace relations legislation, which the Nationals unanimously support.” That unanimity must be news to Barnaby Joyce, who is still threatening to cross the floor on IR, especially over the removal of unfair dismissal protections.

• The Office for the Employment Advocate, which is responsible for monitoring AWAs, assessed contracts against the wrong award. As a result, employees were underpaid by thousands of dollars. The incompetent, anti-worker OEA will have an increased role in the new industrial relations system.

• The Government has been testing its advertising campaign on focus groups — who apparently don’t like what they’ve seen: “secret focus groups used to trial [the] $20 million advertising campaign on workplace reforms have been left confused and concerned about the changes.” Participants thought the main ad was “light on detail and distant from people’s lives”, and they were “concerned” that one of the ads “implied that if a worker left an award he or she could not return to it.” It can’t avoid that implication, because it’s true — but this demonstrates that people can see through the Government’s weasel words. The Australian reports that the ads are “very political.” Meanwhile, the High Court is yet to decide whether the advertising outlays are constitutionally valid.

Update:

• The ACTU will put the Government on the back foot by launching a minimum wage claim in the Industrial Relations Commission this week. The Government will be forced either to undercut the union claim, or attempt to stop the process — thereby ensuring an 18 month wage freeze for Australia’s lowest-paid workers. The case will highlight John Howard’s record: he has argued for real wage cuts in four of the last nine years, and workers would be $50/week worse off if the AIRC had listened to the Prime Minister. The Australian’s Brad Norington writes, “The ACTU is not just thwarting the Government, it is laying down a serious challenge.”