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Govt Gears Up for WorkChoices II
Date: 20 July 2006
The Howard Government is secretly discussing with the Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ACCI) big business plans for a new wave of IR reforms that may see more workers denied overtime pay when working more than 38 hours a week, and widen employers' ability to stand down workers without pay.
An employer group document also states that big business wants further cuts to the legal minimum standards for all Australian workers so that sick leave entitlements could be halved to only five days a year and all annual leave could be 'cashed out', leaving workers without any annual holidays.
Commenting on the document and a leaked agenda and discussion paper for ACCI-Government talks, ACTU Secretary Greg Combet said today:
"These documents show that there are secret discussions between the business lobby and the Government to further attack the basic rights of Australian workers.
Employment Minister Kevin Andrews needs to come clean and explain whether he met with the ACCI last week to discuss business proposals for more IR changes that would further cut the wages and conditions of employees.
The big business documents detail changes that would deny more workers access to overtime pay, and indicate that employers also want to allow AWA individual contracts to override the current five minimum standards.
Together, these proposals would mean that all working Australians would be in danger of being put onto an AWA individual contract that cuts their sick leave to just 5 days a year, takes away their annual holidays and has no limit on the hours they have to work each week."
Key elements of the IR changes canvassed by employers include:
* 38 hour week: Removing the limit on the length of the standard working week (currently 38 hours) in workplace agreements. The plan specifically proposes to amend the current IR law so that all hours worked in excess of 38 hours are 'presumed to be reasonable unless an employee complainant can prove otherwise'.
* Personal leave: Allowing AWA individual contracts to override the legal minimum standard and only provide employees with 5 days sick/personal leave instead of the current ten days and to cap entitlements to unpaid leave to care for a sick child or family member.
* Annual leave: Allowing all four weeks of annual leave to be 'cashed out', instead of the current two weeks maximum. Also, regular weekend shift workers would lose their current entitlement to a 5th week of annual leave that compensates them for working unsocial hours.
* Parental leave: Considering proposals to allow AWA individual contracts to override the legal minimum standard and trade off their parental leave entitlement to 12 months unpaid leave after the birth of a child.
* Minimum wages: Enabling employers to cut the wages of low paid employees on State awards by $20 a week in NSW and WA and by $17 a week in SA as a result of a proposal to allow businesses to enter the new federal system at will.
"Senior Howard Government Minister Nick Minchin has already said that the IR changes have not gone far enough and that another wave of reform is necessary. Now we are starting to see just how damaging the Coalition's agenda will be on the working conditions and living standards of Australia's working families," said Mr Combet.
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