Proposed laws strip workers' rights

The Howard Government's latest round of anti-union, anti-
worker laws are an employer's dream. They take up where former 
Minister Peter Reith left off, attacking conditions won by 
workers over many years and undermining such basic rights as the 
right to strike.

They not only attack trade union rights and working conditions, 
but erode the ability of workers to participate in their 
community and impinge on the ability of workers family and social 
life.

Under the Government's proposals workers covered by federal 
awards there would be:

* No paid leave for jury service (leave to donate blood has 
already been removed)
* No reimbursement of transport costs for people required to work 
late at night
* No paid leave to undertake training courses
* No entitlement to personal emergency leave
* Fewer public holiday entitlements for some award workers
* No allowances for employees who are required to launder their 
uniforms at home
* Long service leave delayed an extra five years until after 15 
years service for some award workers
* Removal of the cap on the maximum hours of classroom teaching
* No limit on the number of casuals able to be employed — 
already one in four people are employed as casuals.

"The Government's proposals are unfair. They undermine the rights 
of the lowest paid and most vulnerable people who are dependent 
on awards for basic standards of pay and conditions", said ACTU 
President Sharan Burrow.

The ACTU appeared be-fore the Senate Employment, Workplace 
Relations and Education Legislation Committee last week. The 
Committee is looking into the Government's latest round of 
changes to both conditions and rights of the worker.