Human values, worth voting for

By Maree O’Halloran

On November 14 the High Court of Australia allowed the Howard Government to use its industrial relations laws to strip away 100 years of protection for working people.

These protections provided safeguards like the award system, regular wage increases and employment security to weather economic downturns. By a 5-2 majority, the High Court dismissed challenges to the validity of the WorkChoices legislation brought by every state of Australia, Unions NSW (supported by Federation) and the Australian Workers Union. The decision confirms the political reality that millions of workers have lost their rights at work under the Howard Government.

The High Court challenge was one aspect of the union movement's campaign against the Howard Government's industrial relations laws. The other strands of the campaign include mass action, advertising, lobbying, community activity and political campaigning, particularly in targeted seats. The challenge had to be mounted to ensure that all bases were covered. The upholding of the legal foundation for WorkChoices simply makes the way forward perfectly clear: only a political solution is now possible.

The only way now for Australian workers to get some justice and to create a fairer system of industrial relations is by voting the Howard Government out. The Government's industrial relations system needs to be replaced with a system that protects people against unscrupulous employers and gives workers a right to collectively bargain.

The ACTU and Unions NSW are staging a major protest against the laws on Thursday November 30. Federation workplaces are urged to maximise their participation in the event. This protest against the Federal Government's industrial laws is particularly important in the wake of the High Court's decision. The union movement needs to be visible and strong. This strength will send a clear message to the Howard Government and the community that the union movement will keep fighting.

A strong turn out at the November 30 Sky Channel meetings and rallies also provides hope to those workers who are currently marginalised and perhaps afraid. The union movement's visibility in the fight and the campaign may encourage those workers to seek help.

The plight of some workers in this country should make us angry and ashamed of political leadership that could allow, even encourage, such circumstances to exist. Federation members have had the opportunity to hear from Jin Woog Kim, a member of the CFMEU, on two occasions this month. Mr Kim is a Korean citizen who was employed in, and slept in, a factory. The CFMEU says Mr Kim's hand was minced in a machine while working and that his employer refused to call an ambulance because the employer had no workers compensation for Mr Kim. At that point Mr Kim was expendable and the CFMEU says Mr Kim's employer called the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs to try and have Mr Kim deported. Mr Kim is now being supported by the CFMEU. The fact remains, however, that a person in Australia could be treated in a manner that disregards the most basic of human values. It calls to mind Geoffrey Robertson QC at the Cornerstones Conference when he mocked the former Federal Education Minister, Brendan Nelson's "Australian values" document. Geoffrey Robertson called for human values to be embedded in the curriculum.

On November 30, ACTU Secretary Greg Combet will highlight that overturning the Federal Government's industrial relations laws is just one aspect of an alternative vision that needs to be articulated by Opposition parties. That vision must embrace a sustainable economic and social future for Australia. In a discussion at the Australian Education Union Executive on November 15, Greg Combet nominated climate change, nuclear energy, infrastructure, skills development and public education as critical areas where federal Labor needs to differentiate itself from the federal Coalition. While Federation is mobilised and very active in the industrial relations campaign, the public education campaign will be of equal importance in the lead up to the state and federal elections in 2007.

It will not be sufficient for federal Labor to embrace the bipartisan politics of education which sees billions of dollars of public money spent on private schools while public schools have unmet resource demands. Private schools (including Catholic schools) on the 'funding maintained' list reaped a $2 billion windfall in excess of what they were actually entitled to even under the current iniquitous federal funding system. The NSW Greens analysed the Senate Estimates Committee data and provided the information to the Sydney Morning Herald which published it on November 20 under the heading "Private schools rake in $2b windfall".

The decision of the High Court potentially changes the nature of federalism in Australia. It would appear that the Federal Government now has the ability to legislate in a wide range of areas that were formerly the jurisdiction of state governments. In public education the Federal Government's repeated threats of funding cuts if policies such as individual contracts in TAFE or "one size fits all" student reports are not implemented has become commonplace. Coercive federalism of this nature already threatens to reduce compliant state governments to mere administrative rumps. While Prime Minister John Howard promises to act only "in the national interest", his actions when the federal Coalition took control of the Senate are a more likely indication of events to come. The time has come for a public policy debate about the future of federalism rather than the creeping, coercive federalism exercised by John Howard's government.

The recent TAFE Futures Inquiry conducted by Dr Peter Kell on behalf of the Australian Education Union found, among other things, that the Federal Government is hostile to TAFE. Its funding policies favour the private sector and its priorities are not directed to building or supporting TAFE. Australia is facing a skills shortage and yet the Federal Government continues to waste public funds on failed privatisation experiments such as Australian Technical Colleges rather than increasing funding to TAFE. In the lead up to the federal election, Federation will be placing priority on funding for TAFE.

In the interim, the NSW Labor Government must demonstrate its support for TAFE in the lead up to the state election. All state politicians will be urged to support a positive future for TAFE NSW.

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November 2006 contents