The current IR laws are a disgrace to Australia. Everyone knows they are about shifting power from the employee to the employer. But the power will not shift back until we have a change of government.

Given our proud history as a progressive and prosperous democracy, one would think that no government putting forward such legislation would have any chance of re-election. While the polls put Labor way in front, the election is not tomorrow.

The other remarkable aspect of modern Australia is the decline in unionism. If we all retained that sense of solidarity with our fellow workers, we would have a strong union movement and we would be better placed to resist these attacks on our pay, our hours of work and our working conditions.

I remember how the HR Nicholls Society was regarded as mad when founded more than 20 years ago. But its thinking has come to dominate in IR. That suggests to me that alternate thinking can come to dominate in the future. Let us hope we do not see our minimum wage fall from $13.47 an hour to the US level of $6.60 an hour before that happens.

Absolutely correct the ordinary working person has been their own worst enemy for 11 years, it seems by today's polling, they are beginning to see what they should do, bye bye rodent.

I am a retired babyboomer living on my superannuation so I am not directly affected by workchoices. But I am greatly concerned about what workchoices means for what sort of society we have become and what it means for the future. I have children and grandchildren so while workchoices doesn't affect me directly it does impact on people I care about and so it does affect me. When people say to me, oh I am not affected because I am not working I just ask them to think about their children and grandchildren and what it means to them. No one is immune from this insidious legislation. And If Howard (or Costello)get back into government we can expect more extreme legislation than workchoices as it currently stands.

The laws are obviously unpopular. Professor Peetz tends to look at this legislation purely from an economic perspective. I don't believe that Howard introduced the legislation based on any feeling of economic rectitude. I maintain that the new laws were introduced simply to emasculate the unions. It is a well known fact that the ALP obtains a large amount of funding from the unions so it is axiomatic that if the unions are starved of funds then so must the ALP and therefore reduce their effectiveness as a campaigning force. Time will tell if it has worked.

Whilst the mineral and energy boom continues to prop up Australia's low unemployment rate, the "Workchoice" legislation won't make much difference to those who currently hold down a well paid job. It's when the boom ends that the chickens of this hideous destruction of workers hard fought rights will come home to roost.
It was the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and of course, the H.R. Nicholls Society who campaigned so strongly to John Howard to wrest power from workers and their unions in a blantant attempt to lower the average wage and destroy those workers rights. The campaign started in the early 1990's and has been successful to some degree, yet not as much as those groups had hoped.
John Howard is rat cunning. He knew full well that to implement all the suggested changes in one hit would amount to political suicide. He caused as much damage as he thought he could get away with, all the while believing he hadn't gone too far in alienating "Howard's battlers" and yet at the same time appeasing the HR Nicholls Society and their ilk. Imagine what deals he's struck with them to be implemented after the next Federal election should the Coalition be returned to power, especially with a majority in the Senate?
Rossco, I'm fast reaching retirement age (if indeed the goal posts haven't been moved by the time I reach 65) and like yourself, I worry about the kind of working environment my children and grandchildren will have to endure and on the matter of Workchoices alone, I refuse to offer my vote to the Coalition Government at the coming election.

Chris C & Shonga

“The-other-remarkable-aspect-of-modern-Australia-is-the-decline-in-unionism.-If-we-all-retained-that-sense-of-solidarity-with-our-fellow-workers,-we-would-have-a-strong-union-movement-and-we-would-be-better-placed-to-resist-these-attacks-on-our-pay,-our-hours-of-work-and-our-working-conditions.”

“Absolutely-correct-the-ordinary-working-person-has-been-their-own-worst-enemy-for-11-years,-it-seems-by-today's-polling,-they-are-beginning-to-see-what-they-should-do,-bye-bye-rodent.”

Lets see, the Australian people voted for Hawke and Keating in the 1980s & 90s, who proceeded to deregulate industrial relations, brought in troops against pilots and crushed other militant workers struggles. The unions, in the final analysis, capitulated and assisted them.

If either of you managed to attend the last “Fill the G” gathering against workchoices, you would have seen the previous union slogan “Your rights at work, worth FIGHTING for” slickly changed to “Your rights at work, worth VOTING for”. It is not ordinary working people who don’t want to fight for their rights, it is the slickly suited union leadership, telling workers that their only option is to vote for the ALP.

Yet both of you believe that ordinary working people have been their own worst enemy because they have seen the futility of investing their hopes and future in the decrepit union leadership and the ALP and have voted with their feet, wallets, and their ballots.

It is not ordinary working people who are their own worst enemies, it is the union leadership and the ALP. Yet you are both quick to blame workers to distract from the disgrace which is the union leadership and the ALP.

The reason that people don’t vote for the ALP is that they can clearly see that the ALP does not work in their interests. The ALP does not offer an alternative to the coalition. The ALP (and union leadership) has been revealed for what it truly is - a capitalist party offering its services to the capitalists to subdue working class struggles.

This phenomenon is not a “remarkable aspect of modern Australia”, it is the same the world over, and is the result of the global capitalist economic system.

The problems faced by workers the world over cannot be solved on a national basis, and can only be solved by the unification of the INTERNATIONAL working class against the international capitalist system by reorganizing society on a socialist basis i.e. according to the needs of the majority of ordinary working people.