Camel vest could save lives

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Stil want to see the Labor party run with a Qld leader and treasurer - how long before the knives are out - remember Hyaden
Posted by: Frank of Broome 2:34am today

under howard,s leadership small businesses have always been bad. I used to have my half hour lunch at anything up to 4pm- no morning/aftrrnoon tea break for which I should have been paid overtime. Never finished at correct time. Very much the feudal system.Also not paid correctly.I fear for people working under smallbusiness. amanda
Posted by: amamda of central qld. 2:34am today

I never thought i'd need a union, but these new union busting laws prove no matter how much you love your job, you can't trust business to look after people.. Big business had its chance and proved that they are no better here than big business in america and cannot be trusted.Bring back government regulation and unfair dismissals laws.. Even if it does take away most of the reason to be in a union.
Posted by: max of sydney 2:33am today

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JOHN Howard`s industrial laws were branded a shambles last night, with the revelation that half of all wage deals checked by the Coalition`s workplace watchdog have failed the "fairness test" and been sent back to employers for correction.

The Workplace Authority confirmed 26,833 agreements had been knocked back for failing to comply with minimum standards since the Prime Minister introduced the fairness test in May.

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Once deals are rejected, employers have 14 days to fix problems or have them permanently cancelled, with employees entitled to backpay.

Enormous backlog

Figures released yesterday by Workplace Authority chief Barbara Bennett show an enormous backlog of 142,000 individual and collective wage agreements - almost 80 per cent of all those lodged - are still waiting to be fully checked.

The high number of wage deals either rejected or awaiting checks comes amid complaints from employers that the Government`s fairness test has become a bureaucratic nightmare.

Mr Howard announced the fairness test in May to quell concerns that under his Work Choices laws, workers could have their penalty rates and other conditions traded away with nothing in return.

Previously, all Australian Workplace Agreements and collective wage deals were checked only if employees lodged a complaint.

The test requires that all agreements must be vetted by the Workplace Authority to ensure employees receive penalty rates or equivalent compensation before they can be approved.

Figures released by Ms Bennett yesterday show that since May, 49.2 per cent of 54,436 wage agreements ruled to be subject to the Government`s fairness test have not met requirements and have been sent back to employers.

The figures released yesterday come a month after Ms Bennett revealed she had issued a blanket ruling to fail 25,000 wage agreements because employers had received "a reasonable window" to submit them.

Unions seized on the latest figures last night, declaring they showed the Howard Government`s fairness test had failed workers.

Government `can`t cope` with unfair AWAs

ACTU spokesman Ian Wilson said the fairness test was a shambles, and the backlog of agreements proved the Government`s checking agency could not cope with guaranteeing workers received correct entitlements.

The high number of agreements knocked back for review revealed significant confusion, after changes in May were meant to stop workers being worse off.

"Either employers are still unaware of their obligations or there are still many employers ripping off workers," Mr Wilson said.

Hockey says statistics `positive`

Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey last night defended the fairness test, declaring it offered protection to workers and that statistics on its operation showed a positive trend.

A spokeswoman for Mr Hockey rejected claims the test was failing, saying more employers now understood how the system worked compared with its early operation.

She said the Workplace Authority had done an outstanding job, with checkers in Ms Bennett`s agency now getting through the backlog by processing more agreements than they were receiving.

As less "follow-up" was required, the figures showed employers were learning how the system worked.

"It shows there are protections in place for working Australians and the Government`s independent umpire is making sure working Australians receive what they are entitled to," she said.

Cover-up alleged

But Labor industrial relations spokeswoman Julia Gillard accused Mr Hockey of releasing "the latest embarrassing data" about the Coalition`s fairness test late on a Friday afternoon in an attempt to minimise embarrassment to the Government.

"When is the minister going to admit that the fairness test is just a shambles, and face up to his problem?" Ms Gillard said.

She said the Government`s test was not fair for employers or employees, with the backlog creating uncertainty for working families already under pressure.

According to Ms Gillard, a backlog of 200,000 agreements would be awaiting assessment by February.

"This was a hastily cobbled-together political fix from the start," Ms Gillard said.

"No wonder employers don`t know what they are supposed to be doing."

ACTU president Sharan Burrow attacked the fairness test. "It has been a lemon right from the start," she said.

"It was invented as an excuse to run a dishonest TV ad campaign at taxpayers` expense and was never intended to be a serious attempt to deal with the unfairness of the Government`s Work Choices IR laws."