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Issue No. 293 | 20 December 2005 |
Waves of Destruction
Interview: Back to the Future Unions: A Real Page Turner Industrial: The Pin-Striped Union International: Around The World In 365 Days Legends: Terrific, Tommy Your Rights At Work: Worth Fighting For Politics: The Year That Was Economics: Master and Servant Revisited Culture: 2005: The Year of Living Repetitively Bad Boss: The Bottom Ten Religion: Hymns from a Different Song Sheet
Harper's Bizarre Excuse for Failure Workers Walk As Warnings Wiped Professionals Fear for Their Kids
Predictions The Soapbox Parliament The Locker Room Postcard
Free to Rat Tax Cuts and Cockroaches Proportion, Not Distortion Corp That!
Labor Council of NSW |
News Pay Day “Unlawful”
The law, which green lights third part interference in collective agreements, decrees that negotiated clauses providing for weekly, fortnightly or even monthly pay days are "not allowable". Any clause can be rendered "not allowable" by the Workplace Relations Minister and anyone who subsequently asks for such a provision is liable to imprisonment. Under Workchoices, it will be "not allowable" for any award to require how and when employees must be paid. "The guarantee for every employee under the award safety net to be paid regularly and on time has been taken away," ACTU secretary, Greg Combet, confirmed. "Under John Howard's system it will be legal to pay staff once every three months, or even once a year. "This is one more example of how these IR laws strip away the most basic workplace rights of Australian employees.' It is also an example of how far the federal government is prepared to go to limit the ability of negotiators to strike collective agreements that suit their circumstances. Workchoices specifies a number of common, agreed clauses that will be unlawful in future. Most go to trade union recognition but others strike at basic protections negotiated by workers. Clauses that seek to protect job security and negotiated minimum rates by limiting, or requiring negotiation, on the use of labour hire, casuals or contractors are "not allowable". Some state laws protects pay days, and pay periods, but a cornerstone of Workchoices is a federal takeover of all state systems.
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