AWA = Deception

The newly introduced Australian Workplace Agreement Laws are ridiculous. In a country that has worked so hard for fair working conditions, these laws represent not even one step forward and two steps back, they are simply three huge leaps backwards!

The Liberal Government claims that they have introduced these laws, to sustain Australia’s economic growth and prosperity. Well, if this is the case as they say it is, then why don’t we continue with the same workplace laws that have seen the country become so prosperous in the last 11 years as they claim? There is huge retaliation to these laws, as seen by the Government having to introduce advertising campaigns, which are wasting millions of tax payers dollars and are doing nothing to impress the majority of the public.

I must hand it to the members of the Liberal Party, during question time they don’t stray far from their thoroughly recited talking points, often avoiding the question at hand posed by the opposition in an attempt to avoid the truth, and the truth my friends, is ugly. If I wanted an actor to represent the country and recite to me practised lines that read like an infomercial for Proactiv, then I would have campaigned for Hugh Jackman or Russel Crowe to become a politician, not John Howard or Peter Costello.

So, for those of you reading this that are hard-core liberal supporters, reply to my blog candidly, responding as to how the following scenario is justifiable…

A husband and his wife have two children and live in the inner city and are struggling to afford the increasing rent rises and childcare payments. Too combat this, the husband and father of the two children goes to work, Monday to Friday in the city, whilst the wife/mother stays at home and looks after the children. However, the wage supplied by the husband is not enough for the family to live off. So to combat this problem, the wife goes to work as a waitress on the weekend, earning penalty rates for working on the weekend. All is rosy in their world; they can afford to pay the bills. That is, until the new AWAs are introduced and now the wife is required to work on weekends, without receiving penalty rates. Not only this, but if her boss requires her to work on any day of the week, including weekdays and she can’t because of her childcare commitments, her boss can fire her because a) she’s worked there for less than a year and b) because it’s a small business. Where is the justice in this I ask? We should be encouraging mothers and fathers to stay at home and be with their children when they need to be, not firing them because they can’t meet stringent work requirements on short notice.

Not only am I appalled because workers can be fired under such awful AWA conditions, but also because these new laws seem to have widened the gap between men and women. Recent figures show that under these news laws, women in full-time work are earning $100 less than men a week on average and those who conduct part time and casual work are also disadvantaged (Australian Bureau of Statistics). The government seems to be sponsoring an anti feminism movement with these ludicrous conditions now becoming more legal than ever.

The proof that these laws just aren’t valid in a democratic nation, continue to come to the forefront. In 2006 employees at Cowra’s Abattoir in the N.S.W’s central west, were unjustifiably fired and then in the coming weeks, their positions readvertised, but this time, employees would be offered much less money for the same amount of work. How is this fair? Its not and that’s why the fairness test had to be developed.

I don’t know a great deal about politics, but I do know this. The Howard government can apply as much spin to these AWA laws as they like, saying that the laws decrease unemployment rates, see more job opportunities and flexibility in the workplace, but I won’t be agreeing with them. At the end of the day, as an employee myself, I don’t care if there is apparently ‘more flexibility’ in the workplace, what I want is to be assured is that I will still have a job next week if I call in sick today.
Without doubt, I say bring on Rudd and all that he stands for in relation to the AWA at the next election, at least then we can be sure that these crazy new AWAs will be replaced with much more diplomatic Forward with Fairness plans.