[NRSKarenRN]

The reality of IR changes exposed

The reality of the Howard Government’s radical industrial relations regime has been exposed in a report delivered to a Senate Estimates Committee. A sample of 250 new agreements by the Office of the Employment Advocate revealed the following:

• 100% excluded at least one protected award condition standard for that industry

• Annual leave loading has been erased in 64 per cent of Australian Workplace Agreements lodged under the new laws

• Penalty rates have disappeared in 63 per cent

• Shift allowances have been removed in 52 per cent of agreements

• 16 per cent of agreements have dropped all award conditions - replacing them with just the Government's five minimum conditions

• 40 per cent of the agreements have dropped gazetted public holidays

• 31 per cent of agreements modified overtime loading, with 29 per cent changing rest breaks and 27 per cent altering public holiday payments

• More than one in five new workplace agreements (22%) contains no pay increases over the life of the agreement.

These statistics confirm unions’ views that the Government had no intention of protecting award conditions despite the promises made in their $55 million advertising campaign.


The Government’s employment advocate, Peter McIlwain also confirmed the new laws prohibit leave to attend union based training. ...


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See:
Your rights at work campaign



Working Families National Day of Union and Community Action | 30 November 2006