Liberalizing the labor market in Australia

Liberalizing the labor market in Australia

Karen Stingemore, Jakarta

It is both a frightening and sad state of affairs for
Australian workers that for the first time in 24 years a
government has control over both the Australian Senate and the
House of Representatives.

Australia's Prime Minister John Howard has had his sights set
on liberalizing the labor market for years but his attempts have
been barred by a hostile Senate.

But this has all changed with Howard's conservative party now
holding a one-seat majority in the Senate.

The government intends to take full advantage of the situation
by passing new Industrial Relations (IR) legislation and it is
expected to have a redrafted Workplace Relations Act by October.

The government claims IR laws must be changed for Australia's
economy to continue to grow and it says that by removing the
rights of existing workers more jobs will be created,
characterized by higher wages.

The government has so far failed to clearly outline how these
factors will be achieved but current bills before parliament --
which include removing protection from unfair dismissal for those
employed in businesses with less than 100 employees and keeping
unions out of the workplace which would give workers limited
power to bargain collectively with their employer -- indicate
that bad conditions such as lower wages and job security, may go
hand in hand with these IR reforms.

So, if what the government says is true about better wages and
more jobs, wouldn't the government's proposed changes cause these
two supposed benefits to become redundant?

There are some camps that believe Australia's recent strong
economic performance can be partly attributed to current
workplace structures, so those holding this opinion will surely
wait with skepticism to see how the government intends to boost
the economy through changes to IR laws.

There is also a growing concern that the government's decision
to take away the independent Australian Industrial Relations
Commission's ability to be an independent arbitrator and also set
Awards, will jeopardize workers' entitlements.

Its proposed government appointed commission will serve only
to meet the government's agenda and thus fail to represent
workers fairly.

The Senate functions as a house of review but it has had its
fair share of criticism thrown at it from the likes of former
Labour Prime Minister Paul Keating, who called it
"unrepresentative swill" and more recently by Howard who coined
it a "house of obstruction".

For all of its faults, the Senate serves to check and balance
legislation, while encouraging political parties to remain on
their toes to produce fair and well-researched proposals.

The prime minister has said his party has an enormous
opportunity now that they have the majority in the Senate but
this opportunity looks like it may go towards tearing down the
social fabric of a society that has taken years to build and in
the case of workers' rights has been built from years of
negotiating and fighting for every inch of workers' entitlements.

Federal Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Kevin
Andrews, seems only intent on protecting bits and pieces of
workers' conditions, which include ordinary hours of work,
parental leave, personal leave and annual leave, workers' look as
if they will have to wave other conditions and safety nets
goodbye.

Many in Australia (including various church organizations,
academics and unions) hope Howard's changes will not be adverse
to the people already marginalized by Australian society, by
undermining their rights and having laws that favor employers
over employees, while ignoring influences such as family issues.

But they are not very confident his government's changes won't
adversely affect the already struggling Australian.

It is clear the government's priority all along has been to
change labor laws to favor groups such as small business, the
self-employed and sub-contractors, while disadvantaging the
ordinary working Australian.

Researchers in Australia have slammed the government for
completely overlooking in its IR reforms, the issues of labor
shortages and high turnover in the health sector.

All is not lost though as the recently elected Queensland
National Senator Barnaby Joyce has made his views public that he
hasn't made up his mind about whether he will support the
government's IR laws; he has remained staunch in his views even
though Howard has called for party unity.

If Senator Joyce crosses the floor to vote against party lines
the government's one-seat majority will disappear on this
particular issue.

Howard's position as prime minister might be better served if
he is seen as continuing to negotiate with the Senate on issues
such as IR but his growing air of invincibility and arrogance --
as he relishes in his fourth term in office -- suggests
otherwise.

The writer is an Australian freelance journalist currently
based in Jakarta.