IR proposals are 'blackmail', rally hears

By Kerri Carr

A Sydney rally of mostly TAFE and university sector workers on June 1 was told the Howard Government's proposals tying funding to certain conditions constituted "blackmail".

The Government has already introduced into parliament legislation that ties education funding in both sectors to offering Australian Workplace Agreements (individual contracts negotiated between a single worker and an employer) to all workers in TAFE and universities.

ACTU Secretary Greg Combet said the proposed industrial relations changes "signal very dark times for a lot of working people if they come into law".

He said the Howard Government was threatening to withhold education funding unless every single person is offered an individual contract.

"What an extraordinary affront to interfere for nothing other than ideological reasons," Mr Combet said.

Community and Public Sector Union Federal Secretary David Carey said the Australian public did "not vote for coercion" or blackmail.

Federation President Maree O'Halloran said: "They've [the Howard Government] got no concern for students, only concern to destroy the union movement.

"What an irony that the Howard Government doesn't like third-party interference but has no hesitation in being a 3rd party.

Greens Senator Kerry Nettle said the Federal Government was "blackmailing" tertiary and vocational education.

"They're saying their IR agenda is more important than education," Ms Nettle said.

National Tertiary Education Union National Secretary Grahame McCulloch said the rally was about protecting working conditions, and the right to collectively bargain and represent members.

Mr McCulloch said what the Howard Government was proposing for employees at universities and TAFE colleges was an "advanced instalment" on what the Federal Government wants for all workers.

NSW Education Minister Carmel Tebbutt said the NSW Government "does not support the agenda of the Howard Government".

"We know it will affect the lives of NSW workers."

She said there was no National Training Agreement at the time of a skills shortage; instead the Federal Government "has served up an agenda that links funding for vocational education to unacceptable ideological conditions".

"The Federal Government is trying to force unacceptable conditions on the workforce," Ms Tebbutt said.

The Sydney rally followed a march down Broadway.

Earlier, Federation members rallied near Sydney Institute where they heard from Australian Education Union Federal TAFE President Linda Simon and NSW TAFE Teachers Association President Geoff Turnbull.

Ms Simon said: "TAFE teachers, TAFE workers and TAFE students are being held to ransom."

She said the Federal Government had threatened that if its conditions were not accepted there would be no federal funding from July this year.

"Today we are telling the Howard Government our workplace rights are not for sale, and TAFE colleges will remain AWA free-zones,"Ms Simon said.

Rallies were also held in western Sydney outside MP Jackie Kelly's office, and in Albury, Armidale, Bathurst, Belmont, Campbelltown, Cessnock, Coffs Harbour, Dubbo, Gosford, Lismore, Newcastle, Nowra, Orange, Ourimbah, Port Macquarie, Wagga and Wollongong.

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