Archived Industrial News: April 2007
Return to a fair and just system
With the federal election expected toward the end of this year, the ANF is calling on all political parties to support fair and equitable industrial relation laws.
This is in response to a decade of decline that nurses and other employees have endured in the reduction of workplace protections and legal minimum entitlements.
Nurses’ wages and conditions have become fragmented with those unable to bargain earning up to $400 less than the market rate.
Many nurses have now lost their rights to unfair dismissal laws which not only remove a fundamental employee right but also act against many nurses in their role as a patient and resident advocate.
Nurses have lost entitlements and protections previously contained in federal awards.
Before 1996 all nurses were covered by comprehensive awards; awards that were reviewed and adjusted to reflect community standards. This meant that all nurses wherever they worked received a comprehensive set of minimum entitlements.
In 1999 this minimum safety net was reduced to ’20 allowable matters’ and a further reduction to the following five minimum standards in 2006.
For a growing number of nurses these changes have led to a reduction in their employment standards and a more precarious and uncertain working life.
The ANF will be calling on all political parties to support the return of industrial laws that ensure all nurses are protected and rewarded for their efforts.
Specifically we will be seeking:
- the return of relevant and comprehensive safety net awards that are periodically reviewed and updated by state and federal tribunals,
- a fair and effective bargaining system which allows parties to agree on the content of their agreements and a system which requires an employer to recognise and bargain with the ANF on behalf of members,
- the reinstatement of unfair dismissal laws which ensure the fair treatment of employees and allow employees to challenge their dismissal before an industrial tribunal,
- abolition of the Australian Fair Pay Commission, the Employment Advocate and the Office of Workplace Services and the reinstatement of the full powers of state and federal industrial relations tribunals, and the return of reasonable rights for ANF officials to enter workplaces and talk to members.
The changes we seek will reestablish a balance between the rights of employers and employees and their representatives.
Nick Blake
ANF Federal Industrial Officer