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Proposed IR law changes

• Cutting the minimum wage• Slashing award conditions• Individual contracts to undercut your

rights and conditions• Making it harder to bargain as a union• Making it easier to sack people unfairly

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Cutting minimum wages

• One in every five Australian workers relies on the minimum wage for their survival – many are union members

• They earn just $12.75 ph if they’re an adult employee

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“In the time I have been Prime Minister real wages have risen by 14%.”

John Howard, 10 August 2005.

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Really, Mr Howard?

• Since 1996 the Howard Government has fought every increase in minimum wages unions have put to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission

• If the Government had their way the minimum wage would currently be $11.43 per hour – a lot less than their claim of a 14% increase in real wages

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The real story…

• Instead, unions have fought and achieved a minimum wage of $12.75 per hour ($484 per week)

• That’s a $50 per week difference - $2,600 p.a. more than the Government wants!

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What’s this new Fair Pay Commission?

•The federal Government now wants to take away the power to set and adjust wages from the AIRC

•It wants to give it to a new body it calls the “Fair Pay Commission” - with hand picked economists who will, behind closed doors, “independently” determine minimum wages

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Taking away workers’ input

•The Government says that they want to reduce the power of unions and community groups from influencing the minimum wage outcome

•They only want to hear from big business

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The 51st State?

• It’s no secret John Howard loves the US minimum wage system

• The US the minimum wage hasn’t been adjusted for the last 8 years – it’s just $5.15 per hour ($10,700 pa)

• In the US minimum wage workers live in extreme poverty

• In the recent hurricane in New Orleans many minimum wage workers could not afford basic transport costs to leave the city

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Reducing award conditions

• Before 1996 federal awards could cover any employment related issue

• After 1996 they were stripped back to 20 allowable award matters

• Limits on part time and casual employment, consultation about job losses, blood donors leave, provision of tools and health and safety conditions were removed

• Many more conditions were to go except for unions who fought for them, and the AIRC – the independent umpire – who retained them

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A bare skeleton of conditions left

Now in 2006 federal awards are to be reduced to these general minimum conditions

1. Public holidays

2. Rest breaks

3. Incentive based payments and bonuses

4. Annual leave loadings

5. Allowances

6. Penalty rates

7. Shift and overtime loadings

8. Redundancy pay

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Others are to be taken out and put into legislation

• Rates of pay, standard hours of work, parental leave, carer’s leave and annual leave will be removed and put into legislation

• This means they won’t be able to be adjusted by anyone other than the federal Government

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Gutting the AIRC’s powers again…

• A government appointed taskforce is to review and rationalise all existing awards and determine what will stay in them

• The Taskforce is to report to the federal Minister by the end of January 2006

• The AIRC will then be made to implement the report

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What will come out of awards?

The taskforce will remove minimum conditions such as:1. Skills based career structures

2. Restrictions on apprentices and trainees

3. Enterprise flexibility provisions

4. Arrangements for independent contractors and labour hire workers

5. Union picnic days

6. Tallies

7. Trade union training leave

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What happens if I’m covered by a state award?

• Currently 3 million workers are covered under the various state systems

• The majority of these will be automatically transferred to the federal system

• Only those employees employed in an unincorporated business will stay in the state systems eg. farmers, small businesses, the community services sector and parts of the state public sectors

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But what’s the ultimate plan?

• The Government wants to get rid of awards altogether

• Think about it…..• If every new employee signs an individual contract

they will never be covered by an award again• If any worker is covered by a collective agreement,

they will never be covered by an award again

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Thinking about changing jobs?

• By 2010 five million workers will have changed jobs

• By that time awards will be obsolete

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5 minimum conditions to underpin agreements

There will be no award basis to agreements, only the 5 minimum conditions:

1. A minimum hourly rate of pay (currently $12.75 p/h)

2. 10 days sick leave

3. 4 weeks annual leave

4. Unpaid parental leave

5. A maximum number of weekly working hours (averaged over a 12 month period)

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Removing the award base for agreements

If an agreement does not deal with:

1. Public holidays

2. Rest breaks

3. Incentive based payments and bonuses

4. Annual leave loadings

5. Allowances

6. Penalty rates

7. Shift/overtime loadings

…the award will apply.

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Another sleight of hand…

• However – the agreement can simply “remove” any of these conditions & they won’t apply

• There is no overall no disadvantage test against the award conditions

• You can be worse off under an agreement!

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John Howard’s Billy. It could be you or your child…

Billy is an unemployed job seeker who is offered a full time job as a shop assistant… The job offered to Billy is contingent on him accepting an AWA. The AWA Billy is offered provides him with the relevant minimum award classification wage and explicitly removes other award conditions… The AWA Billy is offered explicitly removes award conditions for public holidays, rest breaks, bonuses, annual leave loadings, allowances, penalty rates and shift/overtime loadings… Because Billy wants to get a foothold in the job market, he agrees to the AWA and accepts the job offer.

WorkChoices, October 2005.

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All of these conditions are up for grabs

• Wage rates based on skill levels

• Limits on when you can be required to work

• Public holidays and payment for work

• Overtime pay, shift & penalty rates

• All allowances – meal, shift, fares & travel

• Annual leave and casual loadings

• Redundancy pay

• Rostered days off

• Breaks eg. meal breaks

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Which instrument applies over the others?

• You can make an AWA while a collective agreement is in place

• Once you’re on an AWA a collective agreement can not apply

• Once you’re on an agreement (AWA or collective) the award will never apply to you again

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Their vision…..

AWAs

Collective agreements

Awards

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Removing the AIRC’s powers again…

• All agreements are to be lodged with the Office of the Employment Advocate

• There will be no independent vetting of individual or collective agreements

• Agreements don’t need to be approved to come into operation

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A future of individual contracts?

• Over time, collective agreements will be undermined as all new starters can be forced onto AWAs

• Agreements will be able to be made for up to five years

• Individual contracts will be able to override a collective agreement at any time

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You will be penalised if you bargain for these conditions…

• Prohibitions on AWAs• Restricting the use of independent contractors or

on-hire arrangements• Allowing for industrial action during the life of an

agreement• Providing for trade union training leave,

bargaining fees or paid union meetings

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And there’s more…

• Providing that any future agreement must be a union collective agreement

• Mandating union involvement in dispute resolution

• Providing a remedy for an unfair dismissal

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So what happens if you don’t like your existing agreement?

• Any agreement made under the new laws may be terminated simply by any party giving 90 days’ notice after the expiry date of the existing agreement

• Once the agreement is terminated only the 4 minimum legislated conditions plus the minimum wage apply

• This means more power for employers to legally coerce workers into signing inferior agreements

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Making it harder to bargain as a union

•Workers will be required to have a secret ballot before taking protected industrial action

•Employers can lock out workers with no notice

•A third party can apply to stop or prevent industrial action from occurring

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Making it harder to bargain as a union

• The Minister can issue essential services directions to prevent and stop industrial action, force workers to return to work and lift bans

• Employers can apply directly to the courts for common law remedies for unprotected industrial action

• Workers will not be able to take protected industrial action in pursuit of a “pattern agreement”

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Restricting unions’ rights to organise

Union officials right to organise workers are to be restricted:

– No access to AWA workplaces

– No union access to non member records to check for non compliance

– Unions required to notify the employer of any alleged breaches before they access a site

– Union access provisions barred from collective agreements

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Restricting unions’ rights to organise

– The employer can dictate where unions are able to go

in the workplace

– A small business employer can conscientiously object to stop a union from entering their site

– More restrictions for permit holders

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Making it easier to sack people unfairly

4 million workers will have their protection from being sacked unfairly removed

– Unfair dismissal laws will be abolished for employees working in businesses with less than 100 employees

- In workplaces with more than 100 staff workers can be unfairly sacked in the first 6 months

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Getting rid of redundancy pay

• The award condition of redundancy pay for workers employed in business with less than 15 staff will be abolished

• Workplace agreements and individual contracts can also wipe out any redundancy pay

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Only limited remedies for unlawful terminations

• There will be only limited protection from “unlawful” terminations eg. pregnancy, race, religion, sex etc.

• But the boss doesn’t have to give you a reason…

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Only limited remedies for unlawful terminations

• These matters must be taken before the Federal Court

• Experience shows that cases can cost up to $30,000 to prosecute with no guarantee of your job back

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So what are unions doing?

We will continue to campaign for:

• A strong safety net of decent minimum wages & conditions

• Your right to reject individual contracts and bargain collectively for fair pay and conditions

• Your right to join a union and access the benefits of union membership

• A strong, independent Industrial Relations Commission to set fair minimum wages and conditions and to settle disputes

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So what can you do?

• Join the “Your Rights at Work” campaign

• Get active in your workplace, union and community

• Go to www.rightsatwork.com.au

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