Unions fire warning shot over government's industrial agenda 
The Age
August 23, 2020

The union movement will push back against the government's industrial relations agenda as concerns rise among its leadership that workers will face cuts to their hours without JobKeeper to compensate them.   

Ads airing this week from the Australian Council of Trade Unions foreshadow a potential WorkChoices-style campaign against the Morrison government and pose a new obstacle to its plans to extend JobKeeper flexibilities for businesses no longer eligible for the wage subsidy.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus has fired a warning shot.


Growing calls from government backbenchers to delay a rise in the superannuation rate are another sore spot in the government's relationship with the unions, which is key to its pledge to drive jobs growth through industrial reform.   

"If the government did decide they were going to pick up the super guarantee but also any of the other crazy ideas that employers have that are WorkChoices ideas, there'd be no question that the trade union movement would throw everything at defending workers' rights," ACTU secretary Sally McManus said. "No question whatsoever."



Ms McManus on Sunday laid out the set of "threshold issues" that will trigger a backlash from the union movement if crossed.

Among them is giving businesses that were once on JobKeeper, but are no longer, the power to drop workers' hours and change their tasks at work without consultation, deferring the legislated superannuation rise to 12 per cent and adopting employer proposals that reduce workers' rights.

Ms McManus declined to comment directly on the progress of the five industrial working groups overseen by Attorney-General Christian Porter, which the government hopes will arrive at consensus proposals to change the law and help businesses take on more staff, as they are confidential.

But her overall position points to the limits of reform the government might achieve from that process without a battle with the unions.

The working groups are focused on enforcing Australia's wage laws, resolving the "double dipping" issue caused by a Federal Court decision that gave some "casual" workers rights to paid leave, letting businesses and their workers strike pay deals more easily and simplifying industrial law.

On Sunday, the ACTU launched an ad campaign designed to remind the government and crossbench senators of worker sacrifices during the pandemic and foreshadow a more aggressive campaign if Ms McManus believes it necessary.


Federal parliament returns on Monday for a sitting fortnight in which legislation to extend JobKeeper and JobSeeker at a reduced rate will be the biggest item on the government's agenda. It is expected to bundle the bill for that change with an extension of JobKeeper flexibility, making it difficult for Labor and the crossbench to block in parliament.

Businesses have to have lost 30 per cent of their turnover to be eligible for JobKeeper if they have less than $1 billion in annual revenue and 50 per cent if their revenue tops that amount.

The government argues businesses that do not meet the 30 or 50 per cent thresholds may still need to drop their employees' hours and change their roles — from serving customers to preparing takeaway, for example — to get through the pandemic.

"What we do know is that businesses have relied on those flexible labour market reforms to
operate in this challenging environment," Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said last month.

Industrial Agenda?  Why - cut wages to Third World standards while ensuring costs of living mean the majority will live in penury for life while feeding the fat in classical Third World Banana Republic fashion.  Keep 'em poor and struggling and they'll never have the energy to rise up and throw you out... same applies to the New Union honchoes in their overfed and fat seats for life... SS-DD these days.... why would any overly fed Union person these days want to upset the apple cart of privileges and perks?*

What other agenda could there be? Industrial relations worked just fine pre=Howard and The Assassination of Jesse James Workers by the Coward John Howard.

That little rat weasel never worked a day in his life, but expected the peasants to pick up a shovel in the hot sun for sixpence an hour so his mates could get rich from their 'privatised' ventures of public utilities.

*

The Covid Commo backs the evil unions trying to steal Super from the workers.

The Covid Commo is sucked in by the Unions' propaganda Fake News.

More informed people know that the unions with no members anymore are trying to exploit the Virus to frighten people into joining their useless union.

Then the useless union will push up wages and force unreal conditions and send the employer bankrupt and the poor person who was conned into joining the union will be out on the street.

And the business will probably go to China under the LIMA Agreement which sends Australian's jobs overseas.