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.