INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS CAMPAIGN
Continue the fight
for workers' rights
Fight for our rights…
...the right to belong
...the right to organise
...the right to protections
...the right to strike
The election campaigning is over. The Howard government has been voted out, a great victory for the labour movement and the many others who campaigned so hard to achieve its defeat. The defeat of the Howard government is a political victory for democratic and progressive forces, for the working class and many other victims of the Coalition’s reactionary, backward anti-people policies. It is the first step in a long struggle to reverse several decades of neo-liberal policies, the attacks on trade unions and workers, the criminal neglect of climate change and other regressive policies.
A Rudd Labor government has been elected. The labour movement and the community-based Your Rights At Work campaign were instrumental in the defeat of the Howard government. During the election campaign Rudd and his deputy Julia Gillard issued a policy implementation plan, Forward with Fairness, promising to abolish the Coalition’s WorkChoices laws. Expectations are high that there will be changes for the better in the workplace and for trade unions.
The next step is to rip up and remove altogether WorkChoices and the other anti-union and police-state (so-called anti-terrorist and ASIO) laws that restrict the rights of working people.
Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) will be phased out — should any other form (eg common law) of individual contract be permitted for workers previously covered by awards? Who should negotiate collective agreements? What basic trade union rights need to be ensured? What role would trade unions play? How centralised should the system be? These are just a few of the pressing issues facing trade unions in the new year.
The Communist Party of Australia (CPA) proposes the following rights as the basis of new IR laws that would improve the position of working people:
The Right to Belong
Unrestricted right of workers to join unions
Unrestricted right of unions to recruit new members (ACTU to determine coverage)
Workers to have the right to access union representatives at any time including during working hours
Legally binding guarantees against discrimination because of union membership or affiliation
The Right to Organise
The right of unions to exist and be legally recognised as representatives of their membership
Union representatives to have the right to unlimited access to workplaces for organising purposes
Paid union meetings and trade union training
Legislated rights for union and worker involvement in all industrial and OH&S issues in the workplace
No limit on conditions included in awards, EBAs, industry or pattern bargained agreements
When a condition is attained by 50 percent of the workforce it becomes a minimum legislated standard
The Right to Protections
The right to an adequate living wage and good working conditions of employment
The right for workers to industry-wide collective agreements and comprehensive awards that apply to union and non-union members alike
Abolition of individual employment contracts, including those made under common law
Guaranteed wage indexation to keep up with the cost of living plus productivity increases
Right to permanent full-time work
Protection against the sack; an appropriate union-controlled forum to be set up to determine the validity of any sacking
A 35-hour week without loss of pay
Five weeks annual leave, 15 days sick leave and carers leave to cater for family and childcare issues
Leave loadings and penalty rates to be restored and increased to the highest current levels for all workers
Equal pay for equal work
Twelve months paid maternity leave
Repeal of contractors legislation so that sub-contractors are employed with the same rights and benefits of other workers
The Right to Strike
No legal barriers to strike action as the basis of new IR laws that would improve the position of working people
A change of government alone will not bring about the required changes. It will be the strength of the movement in workplaces, on the streets and in the education of workers and involvement of the wider community that will be decisive in delivering workers’ and trade union rights such as those listed above. There is still a great deal of work to be done by the Your Rights At Work groups and trade union movement.
Download and distribute info from:
ACTU campaign site
Victorian Trades Hall Council
Unions NSW
Queensland Council of Unions
SA Unions
Unions ACT
Unions TAS
Unions WA
Union Solidarity
Analysis of workers' struggles
routes in cost-cutting frenzy
national paid maternity leave
offensive against outsourcing
"Time for an increase is now"
to sack injured worker
returns to higher education
a small step forward
"English only" anti-union policy
threatens redundancy rights
but Solomon Trujillo up $22 million!
on the hop over pay dispute
reaps million-dollar pay win
demand answers
and brought forth a mouse
for dumped furniture workers
deliberately favour bosses
Australian Trade Union Movement
face $114 a week pay cut
in local councils
rejects WorkChoices
risks of Liberal IR policies
stifles free speech
of 442 Visa Scheme
with "457" guest worker visas
Court hits union for $325,000
National Day of Union and Community Action
on loss of job security
threatened, sacked
Tear up WorkChoices. Then what?
thwarts Radio Rentals
Building the class alternative
and struggle to defeat Howard
does not go far enough
threatened with deportation
on WorkChoices rampage
the next IR battleground
MUA wins binding contract
WorkChoices unleashed
mortgaging our future
than High Court judges
Court supports Howard’s IR laws
Gone under WorkChoices
Defeat the Howard Government!
Repeal the IR laws!
threatens more Australians
We say: Join your union!
for workers fighting fleapit conditions
with Howard’s WorkChoices
by Ross Gittins, Economics Editor, SMH
a tale of two classes
says Dr Con Costa
by Ross Gittins, Economics Editor, SMH