The official IR reform thread! (1 Viewer)

[withoutaface]

I'd be keen to see more changes as well, but am a bit hesitant about the stripping of states' powers by abusing the constitution in a way contrary to how it was intended.

EDIT: Interestingly enough I was at the dinner where he announced this.

 

[Generator]

No other plans to change IR laws: PM

Oh well, it looks like everyone will just have to be unhappy with the soon to be implemented reform package.

 

[shelley...]

i am so confused about anything to do with the IR reforms .. i feel like such an idiot reading all these comments and having no idea what's going on.. and yet the irony of my pip topic (adolescent cynicism about politics/politicians ) shines through my ignornace about any policy of the Aus gov. If anyone can feel pity for ppl like me and put the basics in laymens terms.. it would be much appreciated!!
cheers
p.s. have no idea how this site is supposed to work so hoping this does..

These are the main parts of the reforms:

• Exempting businesses with up to 100 employees from unfair dismissal laws
• The establishment of a new fair pay commission to set minimum wages, currently set by the Industrial Relations Commission
• A simplified award system that would no longer cover provision for long service leave, termination notice, superannuation and jury duty, as these are covered by other legislation
• A single national industrial relations system

Also it allows employers to put more pressure on workers; they know they can be fired much more easily and so they will work harder to please those higher in the company.

 

[Collin]

If anyone can feel pity for ppl like me and put the basics in laymens terms.. it would be much appreciated!!

Refer to your quote on MoonlightSonata.

 

[wheredanton]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/...he-suits/2006/03/10/1141701685292.html?page=2

 

[Generator]

WorkChoices Act

The bulk of the WorkChoices Act will commence on proclamation, which is anticipated to occur during March 2006.

Soon, in other words.

 

[Generator]

The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Kevin Andrews, has released the Workplace Relations Regulations 2006.

Workplace: it's the power of one
By Misha Schubert and Meaghan Shaw
March 20, 2006


WORKPLACE Minister Kevin Andrews has handed himself sweeping powers to monitor every workplace in the nation, forcing the Industrial Relations Commission to send him weekly reports on any application to take strike action.

He will also be able to strike out any clause that he does not like from a contract between a worker and their boss and will have broad emergency powers to order employees back to work.

The extent of his reach is revealed in hundreds of pages of regulations released yesterday, which flesh out precisely how the Howard Government's new industrial relations landscape will work.

Under the regulations, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission must send weekly reports to the minister about every workplace that has applied to take industrial action. The Office of the Employment Advocate must report to him every three weeks on all employment agreements approved.

The new regime takes effect next Monday.

[continued]

The hidden edge to IR changes

Details show new IR laws 'harsh and unfair'

IR laws 'deny workers basic rights'

 

[Generator]

I'll break laws if I have to: ACTU boss
By Nick O'Malley Workplace Reporter
March 21, 2006


EMPLOYEES in NSW could lose protection from covert surveillance at work and state laws outlining how apprentices may be treated will be overridden, the release of regulations reveal.

[continued]

IR regulations spark new wave of criticism
IR regulations 'go too far': Labor, ACTU
IR laws will hit standard of living, Opposition warns

 

[walrusbear]

where are all the fans of this reform nowadays?

 

[Not-That-Bright]

where are all the fans of this reform nowadays?

informed

 

[Generator]

Lateline: New IR changes worry mining companies

 

[Generator]

PM: Govt denies IR laws abolish unfair dismissal protection
PM - Thursday, 23 March , 2006 17:25:00
Reporter: Jean Kennedy


MARK COLVIN: The Federal Government is denying union claims that its new workplace laws effectively abolish unfair dismissal protection for all Australian workers.

It was always clear that companies with fewer than 100 employees would be exempt from unfair dismissal laws, but it's now been revealed that larger companies will be able to dismiss workers for what are called "operational reasons".

Defending the change, the Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews says workers will have the right to challenge their sacking in the Industrial Relations Commission.

But a leading legal consultancy firm says it's a "catch all" provision, which leaves workers with far less protection that they currently have.

Jean Kennedy reports.

[continued]

It has 'now' been revealed?

AM: New IR laws to give companies unprecedented powers (3 November 2005)

Well, it's probably true to the extent that this particular aspect of the reform package is now in the spotlight as a result of the breakfast briefing for a large number of business leaders.

 

[Generator]

Workplace whingers beware: PM
March 24, 2006 - 10:48AM


Prime Minister John Howard has a word of warning for the office whinger whose job might not be so secure under the new workplace relations regime.

Mr Howard said workers would find a more flexible attitude to unfair dismissal under the new laws, starting next Monday.

"(But) some people who have been a disruptive influence in a small firm may not find it as easy to remain," he told Southern Cross radio today.

"On the other hand, there will be a lot more jobs created because small business won't be frightened of taking on new staff.

"In the end, judgements have got to be made and they are best made at a local level."

Mr Howard defined a disruptive influence not as a union shop steward but as somebody in a small office of five people who constantly and unreasonably complained about how the office worked.

"So many people have spoken to me and said, 'I know exactly what you are talking about - we work in a small office and there is one person who makes our life a misery'," he said.

"That does not happen all that often but when it does, when it has happened in the past it has been very hard for an employee to do anything about it."

Mr Howard encouraged people to wait and see how the new workplace relations system worked.

"The laws are coming into operation next Monday and I would say to people just put out of your mind the noise and rhetoric from both the unions and the business side of it and just wait and experience them," he said.

Work place whingers may be annoying, but at the same time employees shouldn't just have to put up with poor working practices and conditions within an unresponsive workplace.

There's quite a bit of tension in the above, and the future debates regarding this tension are sure to be interesting.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

The whingers I don't think are people complaining about the working practices etc... there's a girl at my parents work that constantly cries about her relationship.

 

[Generator]

The whingers I don't think are people complaining about the working practices etc... there's a girl at my parents work that constantly cries about her relationship.

I don't doubt that there are a number of employees out there who complain about everything and anything that is of no consequence to the job at hand, but my concern is that the term could become quite broad in its scope given that there is now no safety blanket in the form of the unfair dismissal system.

I guess that we should all just take John Howard at his word -

"The laws are coming into operation next Monday and I would say to people just put out of your mind the noise and rhetoric from both the unions and the business side of it and just wait and experience them," he said.

The experience may well make or break the current Government (not an original thought, I know).

---

After IR law, we still lag US
David Uren, Economics correspondent
March 24, 2006


INDUSTRIAL relations reform is not going to help Australia catch up with the world's productivity leaders, according to an analysis by Peter Costello's Treasury Department.

The analysis, which flies in the face of Mr Costello's view that industrial relations reform will be the main source of productivity growth, shows there will be bigger pay-offs from investment in education and by business investing more in capital equipment.

The public admission follows secret treasury analysis, first revealed in The Australian last year and rejected by Mr Costello, that workplace reforms would deliver smaller wager rises for low income earners and cut productivity growth.

[continued]

 

[0401280723]

John Howard's IR reforms

Contrary to Howard's rhetoric that his Industrial Relations changes will give employees "freedom of choice", this is not the case. Effectively under the changes, no employee can choose to collectively bargin. Young workers, according to empirical evidence, do better if their union is with them at the negotiating table. Young people simply don't have the individual bargaining power they need when negotiating with their employer over an AWA. Real wages will decrease because the Fair Pay Commission will not need to take 'fairness' into account. If North Korea call themselves the Democratic People's Republic Of Korea, then the Fair Pay Commission probably won't be fair anyway. Productivity, according to empirical evidence, decreases when individual contracts are introduced. I'd like to hear people's opinions on this matter.

 

[_dhj_]

Re: John Howard's IR reforms

I agree with you but how can you be surprised? The whole idea is to spread propaganda about increasing so-called productivity in an age of globalisation etc. but in reality it's a return to laissez faire economics and increased inequality. It's just a conspiracy by bosses to take away worker's rights sweetened by the promise of greater choice and the lie of its necessity.

 

[gerhard]

Re: John Howard's IR reforms

no shit dude, thats the whole point.

 

[Generator]

Going retro on awards and unfair sackings

Flexibility key to new laws: PM

PM encourages sacking of outspoken staff: unions

---

Labor's Plan For Unfair Dismissal Protects Workers And Small Business Operators

No point to policy but to be different

 

[taco man]

Heres how i see it, John Howard's selling out employees for the benefit of businesses so that he'll be able to buy a few votes next election bragging about how he improved the economy. I think his reforms are bloody disgraceful.