Bosses prepare to slash conditions

By James Vassilopoulos

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is coordinating a campaign to slash working conditions. It is preparing a test case to be put to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission that sets out the principles for reducing current awards to the 20 "allowable matters" under the new Workplace Relations Act.

The case will use six awards in the retail, hospitality, health and printing industries, directly affecting 100,000 workers. Currently, these awards contain between 50 and 100 conditions. Workers could lose rest breaks, protective clothing and the right to receive wage payment details.

AIRC president Justice Deirdre O'Connor has said that a full bench will consider the test case soon, along with two others.

The Metal Trades Industry Association also plans to use the new industrial relations law to attack working conditions. It plans to remove long service leave from the award, describing it as an "anachronistic". It also plans to roll four industry awards into one.

The National Meat Association, too, plans to abolish the tally system and roll three awards -- the small goods, processing and meat retailing awards -- into one.

Under the tally system, workers have a target number of livestock to slaughter and bone; once it is reached, they can receive 25-37.5% more wages in loadings, depending on how much further work they do. Abolishing the tally will remove the loadings.

The Transport Workers Union recently lost a case before the AIRC to spread awards to new employers. The AIRC ruled that awards could not be extended in this way, because this did not come under the 20 "allowable award matters."

The bosses are using section 127 of the new act to limit strike action. For example, in February, Mobil won an order to stop workers at the Altona refinery from engaging in industrial action. A full bench of the AIRC is to consider a union appeal against the decision.

Coal and Allied, a subsidiary of CRA, has applied to ban industrial action for six months at its Hunter Valley No 1 mine. If successful, the company can go directly to court and get immediate injunctions against any industrial action.

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