When Injustice becomes Law…Defiance becomes Duty

Today saw workers rally in their thousands across Australia in continuing protest against the Federal Government’s ill-named ‘Work Choices” Bill, A Bill which has effectively removed rights and working conditions hard-won over decades.

Under this legislation, an employer with a workforce of less than 100 people can sack any worker for any reason at any time, and the worker has no access to Unfair Dismissal appeal.

Under this legislation, workers can be forced to sign Individual Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) that drastically cut their working conditions.

Under this legislation, a major retailer recently forced its workers to sign an AWAs which gave them an additional 2 cents an hour in pay whilst removing their overtime, leave loading, and sick leave.

Under this legislation, workers were sacked by a mining company for refusing to sign an AWA
requiring them to give 12 hours notice to their employer if they wished to have sick leave... and a failure to do so would result in a $200 fine taken from their pay.

Under this legislation, workers on a Western Australian railway line in 38 degree heat were told by a Union delegate to go home early for safety reasons, and the Union delegate consequently sacked. When his 107 fellow workers rallied behind him, the State Industrial Relations Commission overturned the sacking and the company was forced to reinstate him. Months later, every one of those 107 workers were individually served with writs by the Federal Government to appear in Court on charges under the ‘Work Choices’ legislation, because they had held an industrial meeting. Each worker has been fined $28,000. Most say they will go to jail before they will pay.

So where were YOU today?

Do you have a public service job and think you are secure?

Think again....

Any security at present is dependant on each state, with their labour governments, holding out against the pressure to introduce AWAs to workers. Despite this, workers rights are still being eroded by Federal Government pressure. Here in Queensland, the Beattie labour government were forced to introduce AWAs into TAFE Qld, at threat of the loss of millions of dollars in Federal Funding and the consequent loss of jobs and infrastructure.

Do you have a small business and are really positive about these changes because you can now hire and fire with impunity? One only hopes that your children will have a job in your company when they are older, lest they find themselves working for an employer less just than yourself who pays only the minimum wage with no penalites....the minimum legal requirement.

In Australia, we tend to only take action when something begins to affect us directly. We are an easy going people, few of us liking to “rock the boat”. Yet, how much is the future of our children worth? Standing up against this legislation is not about just acting because something has happened to us, it’s about acting to protect future generations of Australians. Its about supporting the more vulnerable in our community and upholding the Australian concept of “a fair go”.

ACTU Secretary Sharyn Burrows asked today "Will we be the first generation of Australians to leave the next generation worse off?" You and I are the only ones who can answer that question.

If we don't take a stand now, it may be too late.