Political campaign to focus on IR laws

By Barry Johnson

The Howard Government's WorkChoices proposals will now become law. The Government used its majority in both Houses of Parliament to ram through the legislation despite the fact it is opposed by the vast majority of Australians and their families.

Remember, the process began with a statement by Prime Minister John Howard in May of this year. It was a statement of intent but without detail. In response, the union movement began an advertising campaign which highlighted the dark side of the use of Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs). The Government and its big business backers criticised the union campaign for "crying wolf".

In the meantime, the Howard Government was using lawyers supplied by its big business friends to draft the new laws based not on the conciliation and arbitration section of the Australian Constitution but on the corporations power. It is the use of this power from which everything else flows in Howard's vision of Australia Inc where everyone will be placed on an individual agreement working for the benefit of the balance sheet of company Australia. And if that isn't your objective, then you can look elsewhere for employment.

In the weeks before the bill was presented to Parliament, the Government released details of its proposal in its deceitfully titled WorkChoices document. It was immediately clear that the bill would go much further than anyone had anticipated. Its prime objective was that AWAs would have primacy over any other form of agreement, including collective agreements. In no other jurisdiction in the western world can collective bargaining and collective agreements be ignored by employers.

The release of WorkChoices was accompanied by a massive publicity campaign to try to convince Australians WorkChoices would be good for the economy and they would be better off. As far as publicity campaigns go, it was probably the most expensive failed advertising campaign in Australian history. Somebody should ask for our money back.

The mock public debate, in which the Howard Government has become so adept, then ensued. A couple of Coalition Senators, or was it only one, made a whole lot of public utterances about states' rights and saving working people from the "outrageous attacks" on their public holidays. (I wonder when they'll change that title.) There was even a truncated Senate Inquiry which received submissions detailing overwhelming opposition to the legislation.

We are told the Government listened and as a consequence, accepted certain amendments to the bill. These were probably those things it was always prepared to give up anyway.

At least John Howard admitted nothing much had changed and the prime objectives of the legislation were still in place. Just as a side-note, it should be mentioned that recently some of the Boeing workers (locked out for nearly 200 days now) met with Howard and asked him what choices they had. His reply was they could return to work. As has been said all along, Howard's legislation is not about choices for working Australians and their families.

November 15, the National Day of Community Protest, showed us what we can do. The biggest meetings of Australians ever, unionists and non-unionists, sent a message to the Howard Government, Ministers and backbenchers: we will campaign against you and the WorkChoices legislation.

The day also sent a message to all other major parties that might envisage forming a government after the next federal election or increasing their representation in the Parliament. You have to enunciate industrial relations policies which Australian workers and their families will support.

The campaign will continue in 2006. Federation and its members will continue to do their part to ensure every politician and would-be politician is made to account on this fundamental issue at the next federal election. There is a choice. It is a political one.

Barry Johnson is the General Secretary.

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Academics list 'grave concerns' over WorkChoices

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Christmas collections for Boeing families

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Shame file

Standing up for public education

University unions ordered off campus

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December 2005 contents