
Issue No 6		26 March 1999

News

'96 Revisited - Ditched Laws May Get Second Run

A returned Carr Government will consider revisiting parts of its 1996 industrial relations reform package rejected by the Upper House in its first term.

NSW Industrial Relations Minister Jeff Shaw told Workers Online that he would reintroduce defeated parts of the 1996 Act if he was convinced there was a chance they would be passed.

"If I were persuaded that there was a reasonable chance of getting a measure through, I would do it," he said.

Shaw sited provisions giving union officials access to wages records and provisions for encouraging union membership in enterprise agreemetns as candidates for a second look.

Describing his second term industrial relations agenda as "essentially a fine-tuning exercise," Shaw said the lack of interest in industrial relations was a vindication of his consensual model.

But he said that commitments to redressing gender pay equity and acting on the recommendations of a Law Reform Commission report into workplace privacy would ensure the government continued an activist agenda.

Shaw said he hoped a second term Carr Government, would place "a greater emphasis on social justice, on equality and on the free society."

"I think it's now a government which is more experienced and more self-confident and less likely to be buffeted by day to day media pressures," he said.

"I think the pressures for extreme caution are probably less in a second term, particularly if we have a solid win."

See the full ALP Industrial Relations Policy and interview with Jeff Shaw in the Features section.

View entire issue - print all of the articles!

Issue 6 contents

Interview: Jeff Shaw - Keeping the Peace in NSW
We talk to the Carr Government's best minister about his plans and aspirations for a second term.

Unions: Labor's IR Promises
Read the full ALP Industrial Relations policy. Only on Workers Online!

History: A History of Struggle on the Wharves
As the first anniversary of the Reith-Corrigan assault on the waterfront approaches, we remember that it was only the latest in a long line of attacks on the union.

Review: Rats in the Ranks
This Australian political masterpiece about the battle for power in an inner-city council is well worth going back to.

Campaign Diary: It's Time For a Real Labor Government
A returned Carr Government must use its increased majority to promote a genuine Labor agenda rather than just clinging to power for another four years.

» '96 Revisited - Ditched Laws May Get Second Run

» Opposition IR - A Dog�s Breakfast

» Union Plan To Give Mobile Workers Security

» Mergers Wave To Hit Insurance Industry

» AAP Pushes To Create Virtual Reporters

» Wharfies Help Out Aboriginal Kids

» ACTU Asks Workers: How�s Life?

» Bracks Gets Pallas Envoy

» South Coast Labor Council Battle Heads for Court