Individual contracts are about divide and conquer philosophies which have been practised for hundreds of years.

I believe in IR reform but no this particular type.People should be able to be sacked more easily for good reasons.This is not the way we should compete with India and China.They have such a large pool of poor cheap labour that we will never see the lowest living standards reach anywhere near ours.Once we establish this underclass of poverty ,we will have it forever.It will be a welcome to walled cities,guard dogs,crime and hopelessness of South America.

I have backed John Howard on many things,but not on individual contracts which prey on the vunerable.

All this for and against the IR reform,does give one a reason,to ask just one question,why is it needed? I am not an expert on the this,but having had years of experience,as a person that grew up in the wholesale and retail business owned by my family,the main factor behind the success of my fathers business was the way he treated his workers,and their needs,as he used to say,to his sons,if we need the things to exist,"FOOD",so what we need they his workers need is to have the means to obtain that,and that was a decent wage,and good working conditions,and we had no problems,what John Howard and his minister Kevin Andrews wants is plain and simple,not the interest and welfare of the workers,but for greed and profit,at the expense of the workers,the for IR may argue,about reasons for change,but the fact is plain and simple,workers need changes,for still more better working conditions and a fairer wage structure,but this legislation,is so drafted to insure that they will,be at the mercy of management,take it or

It really would be a good idea for some people such as David Boaz to consider the points raised by people like Saul Eslake and Fred Argy. Businesses and their owners have obligations to their employees, to the community in which they operate and to the future. The only people who refuse to recognise that are the devotees of the Chicago school of Milton Friedman and other neoliberals. And look at what a great future these people have delivered.

David Boaz seems to begrudge his son a decent wage.David ;listen carefully, we are not going broke. $55m plus on a dishonest campaign should clue u in on that. How much on the war on terror? It is about priorities. My priority is a decent future for your son. Your support for Howard(he does hate workers) leaves us looking at the riots in France.Downward envy is a shocking thing, a terrible disease of the aspirationals. $100,000 per annum Union Officials, as they said in the 'Castle" "your dreaming".

An American multinational's mission statement says "We are in business to make a profit in a socially acceptable manner". All clear on this?
This company runs massive education programs to keep public sentiment on its side and keeps its SNAFUs out of the paper.

Our part of the bargain as a society is to set the ground rules within which corporations can operate. In the last 30 years Australian policy has been dictated to government by the multinationals not society setting limits on corporate behaviour. Time to WAKE UP AUSTRALIA!!

SILCRAFT a component manufacturer laid off 400 workers last night because General Motors is going to source components from China.

All readers of this forum are aware that General Motors was invited to set up in Australia in 1945 with Australian money raised through debentures and guaranteed by the Australian government. Ming returned ownership to Detroit.
Clearly Australia needs to develop policies that provide sustainable prosperous future for ALL Australians not just the Prime Ministers crony's.
[Should ban all cricket tragics from prime ministership!]

Des Griffin, I agree with you mate, but sadly Telstra and Quantas don't see an obligation to the community as between them they have exported nearly 10,000 Australian jobs, to India and overseas. I have no quarell with the Indians or any other nationality for that matter, however I do believe Australian companies, especially the icons, should employ Australians only, as the majority of their profits come from the Australian community, and employ us at a fair rate of pay, not John {Bonsai} Howard's IR plan, Bonsai, is a little bush.