[Muanet] ACTU Media Release 30 May 2006

[Chris Latham]

Hi All 

 

Below is an ACTU media release on based on the release of figures by the
Office of the Employment Advocate regarding the content of AWAs that
have been registered following the enactment of WorkChoices.

 

Chris

 

  _____  

ACTU Media Release 30 May 2006 
  
A senior Government official has confirmed that penalty rates, shift
allowances and annual leave loading for employees have been abolished in
a majority of new individual contracts (AWAs) registered under the
Howard Government's new IR laws - leaving employees thousands of dollars
worse off than they would be under an award, says the ACTU. 

 

Commenting on the admission by the Head of the Fed Govt's Office of the
Employment Advocate (OEA) Peter McIlwain before a Senate Estimates
Committee, ACTU Policy Co-ordinator George Wright said today:   
  "Despite a $55 million advertising campaign by the Howard 
  Government promising to protect award conditions, a senior 
  Government official has now admitted that every AWA workplace 
  agreement lodged under the new IR laws has dropped at least one 
  protected award condition. 
  
Working families are struggling to keep their heads above water and with
steep rises in petrol and other basic household costs the last thing
that need is a pay cut under the Howard Government's new IR laws," said
Mr Wright. 
  
As Head of the Office of the Employment Advocate Mr McIlwain is
responsible for scrutinizing the content of workplace agreements. He has
told a Senate Estimates Committee: 

* Annual leave loading has been erased in 64 per cent of Australian
Workplace Agreements lodged under the new laws 
* Penalty rates have disappeared in 63 per cent 
* Shift allowances have been removed in 52 per cent of agreements 
* 16 per cent of agreements have dropped all award conditions -
replacing them with just the Government's five minimum conditions 
* 40 per cent of the agreements have dropped gazetted public holidays 
* 31 per cent of agreements modified overtime loading, with 29 per cent
changing rest breaks and 27 per cent altering public holiday payments 
* More than one in five new workplace agreements (22%) contains no pay
increases over the life of the agreement. 

 

Mr Wright said: "Already we are seeing large numbers of hard working
Australians suffering a cut in their take home pay and the loss of
important working conditions. Penalty rates, shift allowances, leave
loading, rest breaks and public holidays are all getting the chop as
employers use the new IR laws to axe award entitlements." 
  
Union-provided training banned 

In a separate admission to the Senate Estimates Committee today (30
May), the Government's Employment Advocate Peter McIlwain confirmed that
any leave to attend union-provided training is prohibited in workplace
agreements under the Government's new industrial laws. 

 

"Leave to attend training, provided by a trade union, however described,
is prohibited as per the regulations," Mr McIlwain is reported as saying
in Estimates today. 

 

Mr Wright said, "Unions are worried that the Government's ban on union
training could lead to an increase in accidents and deaths in the mining
and other industries." 



Thirty-eight Beaconsfield miners, including members of the rescue team
attending a reception at Parliament House, yesterday called on the
Government to remove the ban on union health and safety training.

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