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Which employers are using the new IR laws to undercut wages and
conditions? Join our ‘Scum Bag Employer’ tour of Perth, lead by a Perth
comedian and have a laugh with us!
unionswa
Source: The West Australian - Employers are being urged to sign up
workers on five-year Australian Workplace Agreements on the eve of the
next Federal election in a bid to circumvent Labor's plan to abolish
the individual agreements.
Leading business groups said yesterday that companies and employees
could protect themselves against Kim Beazley's industrial changes for
more than one term of a Labor government by taking advantage of new
laws which allow AWAs to run for up to five years.
The Opposition Leader has promised to abolish AWAs but has also said he
would allow existing contracts to run their full term provided both the
employer and the worker agreed.
The plan by business groups to get around Mr Beazley's anti-AWA policy
came as Michael Chaney, Business Council of Australia president and a
Catholic, attacked Sydney Catholic Archbishop George Pell over his
criticism of the Federal Government's industrial relations policies.
Cardinal Pell said at the weekend he feared individual workplace
agreements would drive down minimum wages.
But Mr Chaney said Church leaders should support the legislation
because it provided more opportunities for the unemployed. "The Church
holds itself out as being a champion of the disadvantaged and the
poor," he said. "The single most important determinant in Australia of
poverty is employment. This legislation is all about creating more
jobs. I would expect that, if any Church leader speaks out, it is from
the basis of a full, thorough understanding of the issues and my
feeling in this case is it is not."
The WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry said employers and staff could
use the five-year AWA agreements to ensure they suffered no disruption
if Labor won office, provided it served only one term.
Spokesman Bruce Williams said most existing AWAs in WA had a two-year
lifespan, but he expected there would be a last-minute rush for the
five-year variety before the next election. "If Mr Beazley abolishes
AWAs then we would be very confident that WA employers would be looking
at all ways of maintaining them and that includes re-signing them on
the eve of the next Federal election if there is a chance of Labor
winning," he said.
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry spokesman Peter Anderson
urged employers to consider the move as "a very real option".
But Mr Anderson, the director of workplace policy, said he was
concerned the back-up plan could be undermined by the ALP's
transitional arrangements for AWAs, which is still to be revealed in
detail.
A spokesman for Mr Beazley said the transition arrangements under the
policy had not been finalised, but claimed they would be "sensible" and
would allow AWAs to run their course. "It would be wrong if workers
were forced to sign AWAs," he said.
UnionsWA secretary Dave Robinson agreed there would be a rush for AWAs
in some sectors but he warned that under a Labor government, only
employers who had a genuine agreement with staff would be able to
maintain their agreement until the AWAs' expiry date.
Mr Robinson urged the ALP to set up stringent tests to determine which
AWAs were genuine agreements and which had been signed by workers under
duress.
