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Issue No. 149 | 23 August 2002 |
Our Historical Mission
Interview: Something Smells Cole-Watch: Credibility Crisis Unions: Union Cities Industrial: Lib Men Gang Up Against Working Mums History: Eureka! East Timor: Don�t Rob Their Future Review: Black Chicks Say It All Poetry: Self Regulation
Cole to Hear of Criminal Takeover Conspiracy ANZ Fined Over Freedom Of Speech Breach Qantas Union's Gorilla Tactics Shearers Black Ban Their Hall Of Fame Democrats Fire Shot for Workers Teachers Walk Out At Aust College of Technology Airport Security Worker Spat At And Assaulted CBA Workers Say Enough Is Enough Doco Dishes Dirt On Howard�s Gas Wrangle
The Soapbox The Locker Room Postcard Week in Review Bosswatch
Susan's Soccer Outrage
Labor Council of NSW |
The Soapbox Cole Comfort
************** The attack on the maritime union in 1998 was just one plank of this agenda, which is supported by a radical overhaul of industrial relations law that successive workplace relations ministers continue to pursue, despite set backs in the Senate. The Howard government has made no bones about its intentions to "deregulate the labour market", being shorthand for union busting, and nor has it sought to hide the fact that key targets in the plan include not just the maritime union, but construction and transport unions as well. In this context, the Cole Royal commission into the construction industry can be seen as not simply a anti union stalking horse aimed at discrediting the CFMEU, but as a vehicle for progressing an agenda which would see the ability of all unions to organise further compromised. What are the possible policy and legislative implications of the Royal Commission ? It is a well worn tactic of the Howard government to progress attacks upon vulnerable and progressive parts of the community through the mechanism of an inquiry and report. The Audit Commission report on the public sector in 1996 laid the foundation for an aggressive privatisation campaign; The McLure report on "Welfare Reform" indicated how assistance for the most disadvantaged in the community might be wound back; and the Besley inquiry into Telstra set the parameters for the government sell off. It is not surprising therefore that the Cole Royal Commission appears to be seeding the debate about how to "wind back union power" with selective and often salacious anecdotes presumably aimed at softening up public opinion ahead of further attacks on unions and working people. The anti union legislative agenda already includes bills before the Commonwealth parliament aimed at: � prohibiting pattern bargaining; � restricting the right of workers to pursue unfair dismissal claims; � and introducing bureaucratic restrictions on the right of unionists to strike. As well as these particular claims, Tony Abbott and employer groups have also variously called for; � the Commonwealth to take over all industrial relations jurisdictions; � the establishment of an industrial "police force"; � a mechanism for the Commonwealth to directly intervene in industrial matters and take on unions where employers refuse, and; � separate industrial tribunals for particular industries (in this case, the construction industry.) One more key area of industrial regulation where the Cole Commission appears to be laying the groundwork for legislative change is Occupational Health &Safety. Although the Commonwealth does not have direct jurisdiction over OH&S in the construction industry, the Cole Commission is nevertheless spending a lot of time bringing out matters dealing with OH&S practices in construction, with the unmistakable angle of trying to discredit the role played by the union. Apart from serving to create a prejudicial view of the union, the Government might well be looking at other targets. In particular, it is somewhat surprising given the overall context of its approach to unions that the Commonwealths own OH&S laws continue to provide a substantial core of union rights. In union organised sites which come under the Commonwealth OH&S laws, unions still have the right to conduct elections for OH&S representatives, and these representatives have very significant policing and enforcement powers under the Act. A campaign which seeks to discredit the unions role in health and safety would greatly assist any attempt by the Howard government to wind back these rights. And the result would be to hand the vitally important policing role over health and safety back to employers. With its one sided focus on employer interests, the Cole Commission is providing a valuable public relations tool for a government intent on shifting the balance of power in the workplace further towards employers. By focusing on the untested evidence of employers it is laying the groundwork for a highly dangerous shift in OH&S laws which would see employers become the gatekeepers. By attacking the role played by union delegates and organisers, it helps sets an agenda which is skewed towards winding back the most basic rights of working people - the right to organise and to take action in support of industrial claims. By attacking the right of unions to pattern bargain and organise across industries, it promotes an industrial relations policy framework which can only result in increasing wage disparities and a race to bottom for wages and condition. And of course this situation further promotes the use of more contingent labour and in general terms helps fuel a process whereby economic growth becomes more and more based upon an ever widening gulf of inequality. In this sense the message sent by a Government sponsored inquiry such as the Cole Royal Commission is that citizens should not expect fair dealing in the workplace, in economic management and in society generally. Working people everywhere should see this latest manifestation of the Howard Governments industrial relations agenda for what it is - as the forerunner for further and concerted attacks upon them, upon progressive social institutions and ultimately upon the most vulnerable in our society.
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