What I find offensive in the IR laws is the unfairness and bias given to one side over the other.

Companies are made up of shareholders and they are required to operate collectively - through their boards and management.

If we were "fair" and logical and apply the same thinking as the IR laws to corporate law we would either require all shareholders to negotiate separately on issues or give them the choice of opting out of the collective arrangement.

Alternatively applying the thinking of corporate law to labour laws we would require employees to bargain collectively as we now require shareholders to bargain collectively and we would not allow individual contracts. We would also put restrictions on the cross company collectivisation of labour as we now put restrictions on the operation of shareholders across companies through competition policies and the like.

Hmmmm, good points Fickle Pickle.

Perhaps Australia's fair go image will now be known as the 'fair go but some are fairer than others' image or a new image altogether - the 'fair-dinkum shake down', equally applied on all income-earners below the $1 million bracket...

It would be great if the politicians who passed the new IR laws were also employed under the same laws.
How many employers would put up with employee behaviour such as we see during question time?
How many of the offending employees be out of a job by lunchtime of the first day?
As the pm says let us make things simpler.
Let us do away with salaries tribunals and have one authority for awarding pay increases and let us have one set of industrial relations laws for all employees (including pollies and ceo's)

Well Peace that would simplify things nicely…when there’s a pay increase…make it across the board…or NONE! Why not put restrictions on rates of profit earned too? The big corporations shouldn’t be able to put mark-ups of 170%plus on the backs of workers who are earning a pittance…fair go? Sounds fair to me…

If the CEO’s or directors or pollies get a pay rise … so do my workers. Doesn’t that fit with the SIMPLE IR policy?

Well it fits with what they say, just not with what they DO.

There are certainly workers who need to pull their weight better…but with a 29% failure rate in the corporate sector…no one can argue that they don’t deserve an overhaul of their ‘salary and benefits scheme’ too…they could do with a comparative analysis of corporates here against corporates around the world…now, there’s an exercise for the unions to fund on behalf of their workers interests.

Sadly the general public don’t see and use the opportunity for an overhaul of our pollies every few years…they seem to be glued to the party system rather than evaluate each candidate individually, irrespective of their party affiliations…or lack thereof…the unions would be able have more impact too, if they were prepared to cut the umbilical cord from the ALP unless they started to represent them effectively.

Read the Hansard records, the major pollies are all tied with the same brush on deregulation and National Competition Policy…irrespective of their responsibilities to the electorate and the nation.

If they’ve sold out to corporate electoral donations, the electors are the only ones who can individually make a difference and tell them they demand representation or dismiss them at the polls.

…or they can wait until all but the ‘elite’ are dragged down to the lowest common denominator and are just struggling to survive…like so many in America today.

…it all starts by pricing people out of a home, high rents and having to have more than one wage earner in the house…oops, we’re there already…let’s see who votes the same way next election without canvassing their candidates…

I am proud to say I have never voted for Howard and the other so called leaders of this country. The main problem with our leaders is that they are a mainly solicitors, accountants and self funding weathy businessmen ect. Politics is attracting the wrong people and this is a huge problem. I dont have a problem with lawyers and rich people I hope to be an entreupener myself but they are over represented in parliment.

I am furious with this governments new IR laws and there yet to be proved AWB involvement. Did you people know this government is going to force disabiled people to work in the knew Welfare To Work legislation and yes, force.

The new IR laws were created to lower wages for all workers and if you think it was'nt then why would the Howard government scrap the no disadvantage test? which means anyone on a AWA before could not get less than the award over the year. These IR laws were created by big business and the Howard government for there own iterests and if anyone cant see that is either a liar or a pea brain and this current government is not the later.

This country has really changed for the worse in the last 10 years and if this Howard so called leader gets re-elected I will seriously consider leaving this country I love and was born in.

I urge all you good people to speak to your friends and colleges regarding this issue and inform them of the serious damage Howard is doing to this country. If The high court rules against these IR laws my faith in this countries courts will be upheld. I wish we had a real leader that I could look up to and admire. Any replys

The French would have Haycrofts head on a spike by now. Aussie battlers my arse.