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Issue No. 317 | 28 July 2006 |
Independent of Facts
Interview: The Month Of Living Dangerously Unions: Staying Mum Economics: Precious Metals Industrial: The Cold 100 History: The Vinegar Hill Mob Legal: Free Agents Politics: Under The Influence International: How Swede It Was Review: Keating's Men Slam Dance on Howard
Ridout: WorkChoices “Revolutionary” Telstra Boss Gets Crossed Line Prof: Fair Pay Should Be Lower
The Soapbox Politics The Locker Room
Swimming Uphill Help is at Hand
Labor Council of NSW |
News Ridout: WorkChoices “Revolutionary”
AiG chief Heather Ridout said her organisation never supported the junking of unfair dismissal rights and Australians had ended up with harsher laws than employers wanted. "The parliamentary system failed us and we got tougher laws than we might have," Ridout told a Women, Management and Employment Relations Conference in Sydney. Ridout's comments broke ranks with other peak business groups, including the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the rich man's, Business Council of Australia, made up of chief executives from 200 leading companies. Both groups have aggressively supported WorkChoices and tried to shout down any opposition. Ridout said "not ungenerous" provisions for maternity and carers leave were good elements of the new regime but she took issue with key arguments run by the Prime Minister and his big business constituents. "Workchoices is not evolutionary, it is a revolutionary change," she insisted. Ridout also challenged the central rationale for WorkChoices, the contention that it would boost labour productivity. She said Australian productivity was flat and WorkChoices was not a "silver bullet". Ridout echoed the trade union call for an increased focus on training and skills. She distanced her organisation from government moves to greenlight unfair sackings. Ridout told delegates her organisation, which represents thousands of employers, had not supported the abolition of unfair dismissal rights for employers with less than 100 staff, nor for those with fewer than 20 as had been flagged originally.
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