Media Statement - 29th May 2006
Today in Question Time I asked the Prime Minister the following:
I refer to Senate Estimates last night where the spotlight was put on AWAs and the Office of the Employment Advocate.
Isn’t it the case that of the 6263 AWAs lodged with the Office of the Employment Advocate since the commencement of the Government’s extreme industrial relations legislation, of those AWAs sampled:
· 100% excluded at least one protected Award condition
· 64% remove leave loading
· 63% remove penalty rates, and
· 52% remove shiftwork loading
· 16% excluded all Award conditions
Isn’t this just what the Prime Minister’s legislation wants and causes – a 2 cents an hour race to the bottom?
The Prime Minister refused to address the question and said that 78 per cent of the AWA’s sampled since April provided for the possibility of a wage increase – just like the Spotlight AWA, at 2 cents an hour!
There’s a simple reason for these statistics: John Howard’s extreme industrial relations changes cause and want a race to the bottom.
The Head of the Office of the Employment Advocate (OEA), Peter McIlwain, last night revealed what John Howard, Peter Costello and Kevin Andrews have been trying to hide from the public: that under the Government’s extreme industrial relations changes, things Australian employees have come to rely on to pay their mortgages, such as penalty rates, overtime allowances, shiftwork and leave loadings are being lost from Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs), without the requirement for any or any adequate compensation.
There’s one reason Mr McIlwain said this - as Head of the Office of the Employment, he is responsible for assessing the content of a sample of AWAs.
And he confirmed last night that since the Howard Government’s WorkChoices changes came into effect that from a sample of 4 per cent, or 250, of the total 6,263 AWAs lodged:
· 100% of AWAs removed at least one protected Award condition;
· 64% of AWAs have removed annual leave loadings;
· 63% of AWAs have stripped out penalty rates;
· 52% of AWAs have cut out penalty rates;
· 40% of AWAs have dropped gazetted public holidays; and
· 16% of AWAs, have slashed all award conditions and only the Government's five minimum conditions are satisfied.
This is John Howard’s new Australia – a 2 cents an hour race to the bottom.