Felicity, you're probably right in some aspects but your extremist language as usual lets you down. I'd hope future Tara educated girls might correctly save the stock phrase "dangerous apartheid" for debates defining racist segregation instead of simple policy you or your betters happen to disagree with. Could someone tell me if those in the current Government or party rooms who are pushing this are on AWAs? It'd be nice to know how many people in what's left of this country after 60 trade deficits in a row are speaking from experience and not imported NZ online pieces.

For my own part, before I retired from "working in the factory for the fat man" I did my own negotiating. This generally involved a lot of drinking. The latter is a skill one can keep for life. I expect that anyone without the skills to both drink heavily and converse fluently will find themselves employed here by award, rather than an AWA. An AWA would mean having to involve less than wholesome folk into the invoices of my general life. Although that said, my solicitor has a much better wine collection that I do and isn't afraid to share it.

As an employer, conditions in State & Federal awards concerning primary production are fair to say the least. Over the years if we like someone, we're happy to pay more for that privilege. At the moment though, drought continues. No week passes without someone going bust, big or small. Unless someone can make it rain, the IR policies of either party isn't going to make a difference to employment.

Must say, I'd love to see someone do an article on the results of drought on elections. I think they'd find changes in Fed Govts occur during drought regardless of any mob's IR policies.

Just for the record Felicity, are you on an AWA?

Simon Bedak
Wagga Wagga NSW 2650

Labor’s plan to replace individual contracts with collective awards for those earning under $100,000 destroys choice and the opportunity to negotiate better pay and conditions - opines Felicity

This lass really thinks that there was a land where there was those opportunities - if it ever existed it was certainly no more than a very small principality - real life has demonstrated most people lived and still do in the land of "take it or leave it" - yes the miners did well - but by and large they always have in recent history - but the average punter was pretty much screwed.

The imagery of apartheid is also so a bit wacky - the real separatness was created by the old regime - the owners and the serfs returned to the industrial landscape - Rudd ammnedments are imperfect but they do go some way to redress the imbalance

Ok, Felicity, John Howard tried but you succeeded. At last I am willing to admit it. Black is indeed white, and white is indeed back.

Congratulations

...john

There's an implication in McMahon's article that people who always worked on common-law contracts before will have their contracts declared null-and-void, and now be obliged to work for minimally-compliant award wages and conditions.

That's not the thrust of the proposed Labor amendments at all. People on individual contracts will *again* be covered by the *minimum* conditions of the award *in addition* to the terms of their contract -- meaning that they will lose nothing more than the "right" to sign away basic workplace rights.

The problem with the AWA "system" is that rights established under the award system -- such as leave entitlements, penalty rates, and conditions to ensure workplace safety -- are up for grabs. Workers can now agree, for no greater incentive than continued employment, to surrender those rights. They're not "protected" from being signed away on the dotted line.

Collective bargaining is another right, but it's only pertinent in those workplaces where a "collective" makes sense. In many workplaces there is no union presence and the only way union power makes itself felt is in the awards: legally-binding concessions the unions have historically won from government. The choice to bargain collectively is one that *should* lie with workers; the choice to give up essential safety requirements like clean air and rest breaks is one that no-one should be able to be bribed to make.

In this (so-called) egalitarian society, we already have a two-tiered Health System, a two-tiered Education system and a two-tiered Justice system.

I guess a two-tiered Employment system is inevitable.

Interesting too, that employers like to band together into various common-interest groups to collectively lobby the Government but they try to deny this opportunity for their employees to collectively bargain with them in the same way.

Interesting days ahead for us all.

Burkey,
I bet that Telstra is still telling their staff that "people are our greatest asset" while they are escorting them off the premises, post-redundancy.

In Telstra, people are actually number 7 on the scale of importance.
What's number six?
Photocopy paper!

Felicity, the new cheerleader for our neo-liberal right forces of power.

She could step into Miranda Devine's job.

There's always been a desire by our propertied and monied classes to have greater power to exploit, just look at what happens in the US, and in 3rd world countries, and also what happened in the era of Dickens.

It could all happen again if we take our eye off the ball long enough.