Howard-era WorkChoices reforms “did not go far enough” in the eyes of an influential mining boss.
Chief Executive of the Australian Resources and Energy Employer Association (AREEA), Steve Knott addressed the HR Nicholls Society in Melbourne recently, arguing the business community should lobby the Coalition “as hard as possible” to quash Australia’s entire modern award system and severely limit unfair dismissal protections.
“The awards system must be abolished and replaced with a simple standard safety net for all employees,” he said in the address.
“Employers should have the right to make decisions about who to employ or not to employ and who to keep in their business and who not,” Knott said.
Speaking at the same event, Shadow Housing Minister Michael Sukkar said he had been advised “not to go off script” but invited attendees to “get some of the subtext” in his remarks about “turning the tide and restoring Australia’s prosperity through workplace reform”.
Unions condemn plans
The remarks were condemned by Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Secretary Sally McManus.
“If mining employers had their way, we would see all the protections and rights of the current awards system torn up so that workers could be sacked on a whim, with little or no access to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) umpire,” she said.
“Saying employers should have the right to make decisions about who to employ and who not to, is code for bosses being able to fire people for no reason and with no protective legal safeguards.
“Flexibility, choice, freedom is the language of mining employers, but Australian workers know they are only ever talking about flexibility for them and abolishing hard won rights for workers,” she said.
Bottom line at all costs
IEU-QNT Branch Secretary Terry Burke said it was telling that WorkChoices, a stain upon Australia’s workplace relations history, was not far-reaching enough for the AREEA.
“WorkChoices was a shameful Chapter in industrial relations reform, and yet, for some employers, the story isn’t over.
“For these avaricious employers, basic working rights like the right not to be unfairly dismissed or the right to access modest safety-net wages and conditions through awards are simply inconveniences to the bottom line.
“The mining industry is among the most profitable in the country, with most of these profits benefiting wealthy, overseas shareholders.
“The idea that this industry – or indeed any industry – needs to sacrifice workers’ essential rights to service the bottom line is greed in the extreme,” Mr Burke said.
