MINISTER for Employment and Workplace Relations Kevin Andrews recently slammed the ACTU over a television advertising campaign designed to undermine the Federal Government’s proposed workplace relations changes, calling for the “misleading and wrong” ads to be taken off the air.
MINISTER for Employment and Workplace Relations Kevin Andrews recently slammed the ACTU over a television advertising campaign designed to undermine the Federal Government’s proposed workplace relations changes, calling for the “misleading and wrong”ads to be taken off the air.
Minister Andrews said the ads were “a political campaign and a scare campaign” and were a sign of a desperate union movement more interested in domination of workplace relations than the workers of Australia. However, the ACTU claimed the Federal Government is frightened about the “real story”behind its proposed changes to industrial relations.
The ACTU has run two television advertisements in its campaign so far, one of which suggests workers with families could be sacked for refusing to work overtime at short notice, while another shows an employee of 15 years standing being forced onto an individual contract.
“The advertising campaign launched by the ACTU is misleading and wrong,” said Minister Andrews. He said it was unlawful to dismiss a person because of family responsibilities and for employers to coerce existing employees to sign an individual AWA.
“Australians should expect that this sort of campaign which is deceptive and misleading is what we will get more of from the ACTU in their desperation about these changes,” he said.
“People in Australia should take into account that these ads are deceptive, they’re misleading and they should judge anything else that comes from the ACTU in a similar way.”
However, ACTU secretary Greg Combet said Minister Andrews was attempting to smear the two stories being told in the advertisements as he saw it: A worker having to sign an individual contract that will undercut existing pay and conditions; and a mother being threatened with the sack for not being able to change her roster to turn up for work.
“It is clear that the Government is frightened of the real story about its IR changes getting out,” he said.
“Our TV advertisements depict workplace reality, depict the sort of pressure that people are experiencing, show the fact of the matter, that under individual contracts, employers can cut people’s take-home pay, at a time when many people are struggling to keep their heads above water.”
Combet said the ads were not misleading and deceptive and the ACTU had no intention of taking the ads off-air.
He also labelled Minister Andrews a hypocrite, pointing out that Department of Employment and Workplace Relations staff were striking to protest against stalled enterprise bargaining negotiations and attempts to force all new DEWR staff onto individual contracts which breached the Workplace Relations Act.
“From the first of July, the government will gain control of the Senate, that is, it will have a legislative blank cheque, and be able to make any laws that it likes,” Combet said.
“And it has clearly signalled that it intends abusing that power, by bringing in industrial relations laws that will hurt working people and their families.”
ACTU president Sharan Burrow cited research which showed few Australians were aware of the changes being proposed, but once they understood the changes they overwhelmingly opposed them.
“Now that he has control of the Senate, John Howard is trying to take away workers’ rights by pushing through complex legal changes with little public debate,” she said.
“The challenge for unions is to make the public aware about what is at stake and hold the government accountable for this attack on working families.”
The advertising campaign is backed by action in workplaces and communities around the nation, as unions mobilise opposition to the changes.
Some of the country’s more militant unions have even suggested they may resort to breaking the law in order to get their point across.
“If you believe in rank and file trade unionism, you have to break the law,” said state secretary of the WA branch of the Maritime Union of Australia, Chris Cain.
“Because I break the law every day and sooner or later we’re going to have casualties when we do, but if we do it en masse, then we’ll win.”
Speaking at a national conference of trade unions in Melbourne, he said unions should highlight where they had “taken on, broken the laws and won the disputes”.
However, Minister Andrews urged unions to take a level-headed approach, especially contractors in the building industry who were under pressure from unions to renegotiate existing workplace agreements before their expiry dates.
He said renegotiating existing agreements well in advance of their expiry and prior to amendments to the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Bill 2005 and the Government’s review of the code and guidelines may see employers locked into less-than-optimal workplace arrangements.
