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Passed on for interest even though it is a day out of date - Dion
Giles<br><br>
<h1>New survey finds 'battlers' are turning against Howard Govt on IR
</h1><font size=2><i>ACTU Media Release 24 October 2006<br><br>
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<a href="http://www.actu.asn.au/work_rights/news/1161660663_27629.html">
http://www.actu.asn.au/work_rights/news/1161660663_27629.html</a><br><br>
More than 500 delegates representing Australia's two million union
members will gather today [Tuesday - DG] and tomorrow [today - DG] to
plan the next stage of the union campaign for workers' rights and to
decide on a policy for a fairer industrial relations system that could
replace the Howard Government's IR laws. <br><br>
Unions have been heartened by the initial results of a pilot members'
survey conducted in August and September that found around two thirds
(66%) of workers that supported the Coalition at the last federal
election are now considering voting against the Liberal and National
Parties as a result of the IR laws.<br><br>
ACTU President Sharan Burrow will cite the survey results as part of her
address to the triennial ACTU Congress that starts today in Melbourne. Ms
Burrow said:<br><br>
"The IR laws are hurting many vulnerable workers with people being
treated unfairly by their employer and facing cuts to their take home pay
and the loss of basic entitlements. All this is starting to bite with
support for the Howard Government dropping among low and middle income
working people.<br><br>
Working families increasingly regard the Coalition as out of touch and
not responsive to their concerns over prices going up and wages going
down because of the new IR laws.<br><br>
The Coalition is simply not listening, that's the message that unions are
getting time and again from our members as well as from people attending
the many community forums we are running in metropolitan as well as
regional areas," said Ms Burrow.<br><br>
Recent ABS data shows that average earnings for full time workers dropped
in real terms by 1% in the last year. But things are going to get much
worse for working people as the full effects of the new IR laws take
hold," said Ms Burrow. <br><br>
"For example, official Government figures show that more than one in
five new individual contracts (22%) contain no pay increases over the
life of the agreement. <br><br>
Effectively this means that large numbers of workers on AWA individual
contracts are having their pay rates frozen for anything up to five
years," said Ms Burrow.<br><br>
Ms Burrow said the union campaign of advertising and providing
information to the community about the negative effects of the IR laws
would intensify over the next month in the lead up to a national day of
community action against the IR laws on 30 November. <br><br>
The next stage of the union campaign also aims to win widespread public
support for a new IR policy that is being debated over the today and
tomorrow at the ACTU Congress. The ACTU proposal includes:
<ul>
<li>Lifting the safety net of legislative minimum standards up to 10 --
double the current five basic conditions and restoring award protections
for millions of low paid and vulnerable workers.
<li>Abolishing AWA individual contracts and providing a democratic right
for workers to bargain collectively.
<li>Reinstating protection from unfair dismissal for 4 million workers in
small and medium businesses.
</ul>ALP Leader Kim Beazley will address the union Congress this morning,
11.15am Tuesday 24 October.<br><br>
<a href="http://www.actu.asn.au/work_rights/news/1161660663_27629.html">
http://www.actu.asn.au/work_rights/news/1161660663_27629.html<br>
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