Crikey — Irwin feeds his staff AWAs

Steve Irwin has been sprung dangling AWAs (Australian 
Workplace Agreements) in front of young workers at his Queensland 
zoo. The Zoo, an official AWA ambassador, has signed up its 450 
staff to the non-union agreements, which have abolished penalty 
rates for weekend and public holiday work. They pay all staff 
equally without recognition of specific skills, levels of 
responsibility, etc.

Irwin caused a media storm last year by dangling his month-old 
son in front of a hungry crocodile and, more recently, drew 
criticism for his behaviour in Antarctic wilderness areas.

"AWAs are excellent in terms of keeping it simple. As a base 
document to build our policy on, I couldn't ask for anything 
better", Irwin's personnel manager, Sandy Whitehead, said.

The announcement that Irwin had been co-opted to the AWA campaign 
was the last official engagement of controversial Employment 
Advocate, Jonathan Hamberger.

The Federal Government has used AWAs to undermine collective 
agreements and attempt to write trade unions out of the 
employment relationship.

Hamberger has promoted their use, even when they cut workers' 
earnings by thousands of dollars. Despite the support of 
Hamberger, and advocates like Irwin, less than three percent of 
Australian workers are covered by AWAs.

As employment advocate, Hamberger conducted a long-running 
campaign against the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy 
Union (CFMEU) and his 11-page report into the construction 
industry was the excuse for the Howard Government establishing 
the Cole Royal Commission.

In a court case against the CFMEU his office was castigated by 
Justice Marshall for putting up witnesses who had "artificially 
manufactured a confrontation" and told "untruths".

Hamberger, an ex-staffer of Industrial Relations Minister Peter 
Reith, is taking up an appointment as a senior deputy president 
of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC).

The Howard Government was accused of "stacking" the bench of the 
AIRC in the lead-up to the last federal election.

So far, it has made 17 appointments to the body, the vast 
majority from employer backgrounds.