Kenny, you have a very good point, belonging to a union is a work related insurance policy. My union did so much for me, when I was working, I appreciated them so much they went to court to get backpayments I was owed, fronted the bosses when I couldn't get my point across, again when I was being victimised, they are worth their weight in Gold, and now is the time, when ordinary workers should be cueing up to join, without a strong union, working people have NO say at all. It's time to rebuild membership of unions, for our own protection, and to stand up and be counted when the union goes in to bat for you. If these laws are passed, the ordinary worker will need all the help they can get.

The New industrial relations reform has been blown way out of proportion by both sides and its importance has been exaggerated as the governments changes and the ACTU’s incredible opposition is mostly politically motivated rather than economic.

To understand the initial aspect of the reforms you must first understand its motivation. Previous to the current industrial relations the Unions power was unquestionable with compulsory unionism in wage negotiations this being removed in the shift to deregulation instigated by the Keating reforms of 1995 and the Howard reforms of 1996. Since then the Unions power has fallen with the Australian economies recent boom and workers lowering reliance on unions. Union membership has then fallen to 26% in 2005 and the ACTU power then fallen further. The Liberal government would understand this weakness and as the Labor party receive the majority of its income for campaigning from the ACTU and Union leaders a Liberal attack on union membership would be logical. The ACTU’s scare campaign would therefore be equally logical.

Although we would expect nothing less of the government’s motivation to be political the real issue here is the reforms advantages and disadvantages. The ACTU’s main argument is that the reforms will compromise workers and lower wages for employees with poor negotiating power. Firstly the removal of unfair dismissal would sound just by its name alone to worry most Australian workers however it is important to understand the difference between unfair dismissal and unlawful dismissal. Unlawful dismissal means an employee could take a previous employer to court for illegally terminating an arrangement it would also stop employers preemptively from sacking workers for discrimination reasons or sacking employees for using their basic awards or rights such as maternity leave or sick leave. This would contradict the ACTU’s add campaign as a woman is shown being sacked for taking time off to care for a sick child or a man who is forced to change his employment arrangement affecting his relationship with his son.

The removal of unfair dismissal will only apply for businesses with under 100 employees and allow employer’s to dismiss workers more easily. The unfair dismissal laws involve mostly red tape for employers with regulations to fulfill and piles of paperwork for each employee to terminate. The idea behind removing the law is to improve Australia’s dynamic efficiency as better resource allocation occurs. The ACTU argues that workers will become vulnerable to being exploited by employers as a shift in power occurs. What the ACTU doesn’t consider is the reality of the workplace as in small business a dismissal is another cost not a gain this coupled with the law that for full time employees over a year is entitled to have between one and three months pay in order to look for another job this adding to the cost of dismissal. The cost of dismissal coupled with unlawful dismissal will mean that the ACTU’s fear of boss’s forcing worse conditions or workers finding dismissal is unfounded. The Unfair dismissal laws still apply to big business, as they would be able to accommodate the cost of dismissal so the regulations are maintained to protect employment.

The reform is a restructuring of worker-employer relations not the standard of wages or the rights of workers.

The truth is that after these reforms workers with low negotiating power will rely on their unions and political pressure for fair wage determination just as they have for the past 100 years

Unions are important to Australia to keep our living standards ranked 8th in the world. However if unions are given to much power such as occured during Hawke's income and price accord wage expectations may again get out of control and stagflation occurs as a Self-perpetuating situation with cost push and lack of competition policy occurs

Unions will continue its role in Australia however its importance and the power that follows will not be seen again untill the next recession as union membership will quickly rise again and wages are protected.