Learn from the mistakes of others

according to our glorious leader,

What’s changing.

With the introduction of WorkChoices, the Australian Federal Government will initiate a range of changes that will make the workplace relations system simpler confusing, fairer employer-friendly and more flexible more disposable.

The New Workplace Relations System:

Will move towards one, simpler national system.

by ousting the states from their own industrial relations power via the federal government's corporations power

Will simplify the workplace agreement-making process.

by removing the 'agreement' part of the agreeing. individual workers will have to 'negotiate' the terms of their employment with their employer on an individual basis. collective bargaining will be effectively illegal since any attempt to include a mechanism for collective bargaining that is not provided in the proposed amendments will attract a fine of $33,000 for each instance ...

Will establish the Australian Fair Pay Commission to protect minimum and award classification wages.

this 'protection' will be determined by a man who publically espouses that his approach to determining 'fair' wages will be to "do god's will" ... what the fuck! australia seems to have become a fundamentalist christian theocracy since the fundies got voted into power ... i'm so convinceed now that this will be a "fair" arrangement for the little person ...

Will introduce the Australian Fair Pay and Conditions Standard to protect workers’ wages and conditions in the agreement-making process.

replacing the arrangement where the employees and employers negotiate regarding wages and conditions with an arrangment managed by "god" ...

Will enshrine a set of minimum conditions in Federal legislation for the first time.

and by 'minimum', we mean 'minimum'. you can negotiate for more ... yeah. right.

Will provide modern award protection for those not covered by agreements.

"modern" award protection ... "new" and "different" is not the same as "modern", or "contemporary".

Will ensure an ongoing role for the Australian Industrial Relations Commission cc0000AIRC).

the airc will be gutted of most of it's power to do anything. it's a bloody nuisance that employers have to argue with employees there, so we're going to deal with that problem.

Will protect against unlawful termination.

unless you work for a corporation employing less than 100 people ... can anyone say "sub-contractor"

Will better balance the unfair dismissal laws.

"better" "balance" ... apparently being able to make employers establish that they were not 'unfair' in sacking someone is "unbalanced" ... all that damn hassle.

And what isn’t.

Though some things will change with the introduction of WorkChoices, Australian workers can rest assured that fundamental protections will remain.

The New Workplace Relations System:

Won't cut minimum and award classification wages.

nor will we be raising them anytime soon.

Won't remove protection against unlawful termination.

we'll just redefine "unlawful termination" adn change the processes available for seeking redress. oh, and those pesky unions better not poke their noses in anymore.

Won't abolish awards.

no, but once they expire we won't be making any new ones.

Won't remove the right to join a union.

we'll just make it practically pointless to do so. you can have someone sit in while you 'negotiate' your 'australian workplace agreement', but they'd better not be mentioned in it. that'll cost you $33,000 a pop. and if they don't like the agreement, they can go sulk. better not think about striking or any of that nonsense. we have fines for that kind of "disruption".

Won't take away the right to lawful industrial action when negotiating an agreement.

the key word here is "lawful". we've redefined what "lawful" industrial "action" might mean. you can cry about it if you like.

Won't outlaw union agreements.

they'll just be very different from what you might be used to thinking of as an agreement. involving unions.

Won't abolish the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.

not abolish, but gutting. toothless tiger. after all, those pesky lawyers are nothing but trouble. TROUBLE i say!

one can wonder at the irony that our glorious leader is, was, a lawyer himself ...


text in red is from [https://www.workchoices.gov.au/ourplan/workchoices/Whatschangingandwhatisnt.htm]

wading through the 691 pages of amendments to the existing legislation. amendments that would have been clearer and more consistent if presented as a replacement rather than an amendment - is difficult. very bloody difficult. lets not worry about the regulations just yet.

if ron mcccallum's head hurts, it's no wonder my eyes do too.

[note to usyd, it is very difficult to track down ron on your website. searching for him only returns links that no longer exist ... and the url for his bio page is ugly, and fraught with breakage potential. in fact, i couldn't use it on lj coz it breaks the html. the link above should redirect to the 'correct' link. usyd<>, your 'content management system' sucks.]

[note to semagic crew, fix this fucking thing. it keeps changing legitimate html code and breaks my links and lj-cuts. fix it. it's getting very fucking annoying!]