Archived Industrial News: December 2008

End draconian laws in building industry now

The 2003 ANF National Delegates Conference in Tasmania passed a resolution in opposition to attempts by the Howard Government to introduce separate laws to regulate the building and construction industry. While Howard’s first attempt in 2003 was unsuccessful the Coalition majority in the Senate in 2004 enabled the introduction of the laws.

The new laws established the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC), a body set up to monitor, investigate and enforce breaches of federal industrial laws. The ABCC can also compel people to provide information and documents and to attend meetings to provide information to answer questions. The ABCC has the power to enter and search premises and initiate court proceedings against individuals and organisations, including trade unions.

Since 2004, the ABCC has been very active in targeting unions and workers in the building industry and dragging them before the courts with a view to securing prosecutions. The penalties for breaching the laws are significant and include imprisonment, fines and other sanctions. It is interesting to note that since 2004 less than 2% of the ABCC investigations have targeted employers.

The Rudd Labor government went to the 2007 election with a policy of abolishing the ABCC in 2010 and establishing a separate division of Fair Work Australia to manage industrial relations in the building and construction industry. However separate and no doubt stricter laws for building workers appear to remain in the legislation. The ANF does not support separate legislation that results in one group of workers having fewer rights than everyone else. The injustice of these laws is clearly demonstrated by the case of Noel Washington, a Victorian trade unionists with the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy union. Noel Washington now faces up to six months in jail on charges that he refused to answer questions in an interview with the ABCC about matters that took place in a union meeting away from the employer’s business and outside of normal working hours. Mr Washington appeared briefly in the Magistrates Court in August 2008 and his case is scheduled for further hearing later this year.

The treatment of Mr Washington and the potential penalties for alleged breaches of the rules make it clear that these laws should be discarded and the charges against Mr Washington withdrawn.

The ANF is seriously concerned that the Rudd Labor Government continues to apply some of the worst aspects of the Howard government’s industrial laws. Given Labor’s opposition to WorkChoices there is no justification for the continuation of these laws.

Nick Blake
ANF Senior Federal Industrial Officer