http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/23/2013408.htm
The Howard Government's radical industrial relations reforms unfairly curtail our rights at work, cut the amount of time Australians can spend with family, and erode job security.
The so-called ‘fairness test’ is full of loopholes:
There are around 2.5 million workers who will not benefit from the ‘test’
because they are on already-registered AWAs & Agreements or earn
more than $75,000 a year.
• Workers with family responsibilities are particularly at risk. Employees
whose availability to work is restricted due to family responsibilities or
other personal circumstances have no guaranteed entitlement to
penalty rates or shift pay under the ‘fairness test’.
• Non-monetary compensation can be offered to workers in exchange for
losing their penalty rates or overtime pay under these changes. And in
some cases, workers in country areas or young workers may also not recieve proper financial compensation.
Howards new IR laws are a step backwards towards fairness.
1. No role for independent umpire (AIRC)
The new ‘fairness test’ provides no role for the independent umpire
to scrutinise AWAs. Under the new system, individual workers who
are dissatisfied with the compensation they receive for losing their
penalty rates, overtime and other award conditions have nowhere to
go.
2. Fewer workers are protected
Around 2.5 million workers are not covered by the new ‘fairness test’
and receive no protection.
3. A limited set of award conditions are
taken into account
The new ‘fairness test’ does not take into account all award
conditions when determining if the AWA individual contract is ‘fair’.
Redundancy pay, paid maternity leave, and a say on rosters for
workers were previously taken into account in the ‘no disadvantage
test’ but are now not protected and can be abolished with no
compensation to workers.
4. AWAs are not checked before they apply
to workers’ wages and conditions
Under the new system, AWAs are checked only after they start to
apply. This means that workers lose their award conditions first, and
then the ‘fairness test’ is applied later.
With the ‘no disadvantage test’, workers agreements were tested first
to ensure workers were not disadvantaged. Only then, did the agreement start.
DO NOT RESTORE workers’ rights to protection from unfair dismissal;
DO NOT GUARANTEE that negotiations over work conditions will result in workers
being financially better off than they would have been under their award;
DO NOT ENSURE workers have a right to collectively bargain where that is what the majority in a workplace want;
and
DO NOT ADDRESS the fundamental power imbalance between large corporations and an individual workers when negotiating AWA individual contracts.
You dont have to sign the agreement.
