http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Fears-over-Fair-Works-union-bias-report-pd20120220-RNNGZ?OpenDocument&src=hp14

With 80% of the FWA tribunal being stuffed with Union officials, it is no surprise that the outcomes of the tribunal seem almost without exception to follow the desires of the unions. It is also of no wonder that Australia's productivity is experiencing a decline and companies are closing down.

This might also explain the 3 years taken to adjudicate the Craig Thomson corruption and theft case.

Yes SM, I think I recall you supporting me three plus years ago when we warned this would happen and that jobs would be lost.

Of cause we were accused of being il informed and crying wolf.

I also warned that these IR changes would effect business confidence, again, I was laughed at.

Nobody is laughing now.

I doubt your thread will get much response though, as these same people don't like to admit they are wrong, rather, they just move on and avoid the issue.

Let's see!

I can rebut this with ease but it would not get past SM,or many.
No easy task industrial relations.
Work choices was the only reason Howard was not PM still today.
Abbott knows this, is unlikely to return to those days.
I can see improvements we need in current system, but it is rubbish, to make the claim made here.
What is the out comes CONSERVATIVES, Liberals no longer hold a sway in our Parliament, is it class warfare?
Remember they took arbitration out of the system.
I claim no halo for unions, if fact some are damaging the movement.
But warn my country will suffer if for profit sake, we harm fairness in work place.
Watch carefully the intentions of conservative Liberalism in this area, are some to be forever poor to make others richer? it appears so.

Belly,

With 11 of the 14 tribunal members ex union officials, I look forward to your rebuttal.

IR has regressed under Labor to before the reforms under Keating.

Fair Work Australia is without doubt the largest single contributor to the breakdown of management/worker relations that this country has ever seen.

Forget the adjudication mechanism for a moment, and look at the guidelines that they work from.

http://www.fwa.gov.au/index.cfm?pagename=disputegeneral

The buzzword around the traps right now is "Adverse Action", which an employee can call down upon an employer at the drop of the proverbial hat. The employer's "crime" can be almost anything that a lazy employee, who would rather be paid to do nothing, can dream up.

Your manager has a friendly, informal chat with you about your performance? Cry "Adverse Action - I am being bullied!"

One of your workmates says something derogatory about your weight? Cry "Adverse Action - management allows bullying in the workplace!"

The burden of proof, incidentally, is not on the complainant - by the very fact that they have lodged the complaint, they have created the evidence that demonstrates "Adverse Action".

How good is that?

These are not examples that I have invented, by the way, they are happening right now. And the unions are behind them every step of the way, because the massive administrative overheads the business incurs in preparing a defence against even the most trivial allegation are becoming a significant bargaining tool for them.

It is, from my point of view, the single most compelling reason to get rid of this government. They have not the slightest clue how business works.

Mind you, nor did Joe Hockey, when he was "Minister for Small Business". But that's a story for another day.

They had a leadership blue. What has business got to do with it. Who is going to get the first class seat on to the world stage.