Workers can’t wait - It’s time to defend our conditions now!
It is now well over two months since Howard’s IR laws have come into effect. We saw in the first week of these laws being introduced workers being sacked and offered substandard individual contracts. Shop stewards are being picked off at workplaces all over the country and further job losses are expected.
By Kylie McGregor, UNITE Organiser
This is only the beginning, workers face increasing and ongoing pressure from their employers to accept reduced wages and conditions. Sadly, no clear programme has been put forward by the Australia Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and very few unions are showing a way forward as to how to fight the onslaught of Howard and big business.
UNITE welcomes the call of the ACTU for another national day of action on June 28, but this falls well short of putting real pressure on the bosses. The ACTU are continuing to rest on the call for workers to vote in Labor at the next election, an election, which is not due until 2008!
This strategy ensures defeat. Workers know all too well through the actions of Labor at a state government level that they are no friends of the working class. It is in no way certain Labor will repeal Howard’s work laws if elected. Although Beazley has recently stated Labor would ‘tear up the laws’, he has outlined no real alternative plan other than to perhaps go back to the old system. The old system was extremely anti worker and included provisions for appalling individual contracts. Labor has refused to commit to abolishing individual contracts if they win the next federal election.
Not only does Labor essentially agree with the neo-liberal policy of ‘workplace deregulation’ but the fact remains that even if they wanted to scrap the laws, They could only do so on the improbable chance they were to win a majority in both houses of parliament. Furthermore, it is likely that the next election will be fought against the backdrop of an economic downturn. Labor being wedded to the capitalist system will be in no position to hand over increases in wages and conditions to workers in the midst of a recession.
The state labour governments’ strategy, of “fighting it in the courts”, appears to be a futile and expensive diversion. This tactic should only be seen as an auxiliary measure and not the main game. The High Court challenge is at best a lengthy process, and no final outcome is expected until the end of the year! It seems many union leaders are relying on the courts as a diversion to taking industrial action. The mass protests of last year were a fantastic show of workers strength and show that if a strong lead is given, many workers are prepared to fight these draconian laws.
With personal debt at record levels, interest rates on the rise, petrol prices and childcare costs spiralling, there is little room to move for most working people. They simply cannot wait on the Labor Party or the courts for outcomes. Yet so far we have had only empty statements and media stunts from the union leadership.
The campaign must be taken to the next level, linking the IR protests to real industrial action. Hitting Howard and his big business mates in the hip pocket is the only way to make them listen. If the ACTU continue down their current path the campaign will be doomed to failure. It is clear that the ACTU leaders are out of touch with the mood of the rank and file. The vast majority of people strongly oppose these laws and are more than willing to fight them. We need a 24 hour general strike as the next step in the campaign followed by ongoing industrial action. This is the only way we will have any chance of repealing Howard’s big business work laws.