Nick Everett, Canberra
On June 20, federal workplace relations minister Kevin Andrews demanded the ACTU remove TV advertisements claiming that under the federal government's planned new industrial relations laws, workers could be forced into signing individual contracts.
Andrews claimed the ACTU's TV ads are "deceptive" and "misleading", saying that employers who coerced their staff to sign Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) faced a penalty of $33,000 (under section 170WG of the Workplace Relations Act).
"We could have used an employee from Mr Andrews' own department in the TV ads to illustrate workers being coerced to sign AWAs", ACTU secretary Greg Combet told a June 21 press conference in Sydney.
Since April 4, all appointments to Andrews' department have required that the successful applicant sign an AWA. Recently, the department told 15 employees in Melbourne that if they wanted to continue working, they would need to sign AWAs. The staff were even provided with forms that already had the yes box ticked to the question: "I acknowledge my commitment to sign an Australian Workplace Agreement."
Division secretary for the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) Lisa Newman said the department withdrew the forms only after the union obtained legal advice that the offer constituted duress.
Departmental staff on fixed-term contracts were also told they would have to sign AWAs if they wanted permanent positions. This condition was also later withdrawn.
For the past nine months, CPSU members in the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) have been locked in a battle with management to renew their collective union agreement. CPSU members have rejected a management offer of bonuses for individual performance (at the discretion of a manager) in exchange for trade-offs that include a reduction in redundancy entitlements, removal of a remote location allowance and watering down of grievance procedures.
Meanwhile, DEWR management has been pushing AWAs aggressively, intent on weakening the union's bargaining power.
While AWAs to date have offered higher salaries than those payable under the LJ (union) certified agreement, changes proposed under the new workplace relations laws will give the department — and all other employers — a blank cheque to reduce pay and conditions.
On June 22, the CPSU DEWR national office delegates' committee passed a resolution supporting the ACTU's claim that workers had been coerced into signing AWAs. The resolution noted that "this coercion has created a working environment where people working alongside each other, doing the same work to the same performance standards, are remunerated unequally. We are aware that the difference in remuneration often exceeds $10,000, dependent upon whether or not the employee has signed an AWA."
The meeting called for an independent inquiry into the use of coercion to make DEWR staff sign AWAs.
Frustrated with DEWR's stalling tactics in negotiating a new collective agreement, CPSU members in DEWR's Sydney office held a stop-work rally on June 16. The day before, CPSU members in the DEWR national office voted overwhelmingly to follow this example and will be holding a stop-work rally on July 6. Further industrial action is expected.
[Nick Everett is a CPSU delegate in DEWR and the ACT convenor of the Socialist Alliance.]
From Green Left Weekly, June 29, 2005.
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