On 1 October, I first attended ACTU Sharan Burrow’s address at the National Press Club. I was anticipating some further union criticism of DPM Gillard on her IR reforms, but Sharan did not do this despite anguish amongst unions. She refused to name it WorkChoices Lite when quizzed…wait for the details she said.
ACTU Your Rights at Work
At 6pm I went to a launch at the ANU by left wing lecturer Tom Bramble on his new book ‘Trade Unionism in Australia A history from flood to ebb tide.’ There was much criticism of Rudd and controversially of the left leadership of Australian unions.
One. Given the economic crisis Sharan’s main thrust (that has to be pressed) is the urgency for a fair and balanced IR system.
She called for urgent moves to increase regulation of the financial sector, including curbs on lending practices that push debt onto vulnerable consumers and greater protection for homebuyers at risk of default.
‘Turmoil in the global economy has increased the urgency for a fair and balanced industrial relations system, with collective bargaining at its centre, to protect the jobs and earnings of working Australians.’
‘Working people would not be immune from the fall-out from the crisis on global financial markets.
Economic uncertainty added extra imperative to restore collective bargaining rights for all Australians under the Rudd Government’s planned new industrial relations system.
Business and the economy will also benefit from new IR laws that put collective bargaining at the centre of workplace relations.
Sharan Burrow said the legacy of the Howard-Costello Government is a profound financial fragility among working families with household debt at an unsustainable and dangerous 156% of GDP.
She said a fair and comprehensive system of collective bargaining would protect incomes and jobs, grow workforce skills, drive productivity, enhance energy efficiency measures to tackle climate change, and deliver increased participation through measures that assist with the balance of work and care for parents and older workers.
She warned there were still gaps in the Government’s industrial relations plan, and unions would press the Government to close them before the legislation was finalised.
It was essential that the new national system adopted protections for independent contractors that exist under state jurisdictions, including the right to sue over unfair contracts.
“This is particularly important in a modern economy, where outsourcing and contracting practices have meant that many vulnerable workers are now formally classed as independent contractors, and so have lost all of the protections available to ‘employees’ under the law.
Download her speech from http://www.actu.asn.au
Two. Unionism? where to now
I have not yet read all of Tom Bramble’s book and will review it later.
As a left union leader for 30 years and at the UTLC of SA, I came into the unions in the early 70s when there was a flood tide of worker militancy, strikes and much radical left activities.
strike weapon as a last resort
I lived and worked through the ebb tide of unionism with the impact of economic restructuring and anti-union employers offensive.
And I worked as a union leader under Whitlam/Fraser/Hawke/Keating and Howard.
While I was bristling in the debate about the details of his criticism of the failure for organising worker militancy, mass strikes and the failure of left unionist leadership, this is a debate we have to have and engage in. More later…
joe hill
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