In an address at the recent Australian Labour Law Association Conference in Brisbane Rob Durbridge, the Executive Director of Australian Institute of Employment Rights (AIER), questions the Howard Government’s recent WorkChoices amendments and explores options for reform.
The Howard Government promoted its employment reforms as being all about choice. Public opinion seems to believe that it is about choice for employers only and that for employees, it’s a matter of take it or leave it; Hobson’s choice. Given the radical change that the WorkChoices amendments may be found to have made to the jurisdictional landscape, what options are there for reform?
Should and can the clock be turned back to the Federation settlement in industrial relations or are the changes irreversible and the new pace to be set by corporate interests from now on? Is there are new historic compromise to be reached?
What are the priorities of the unions? Will Labor adopt policy to reform the system to replace the WorkChoices package it promises to rip up? How does a Charter of Employment Rights fit into the reform agenda?
- Executive Member, AIER
- Sean Scalmer is Professor of Australian History in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at Melbourne University. Sean studied political economy and political science at the University of Sydney, before undertaking a PhD on intellectuals and class in the Australian labour movement. He worked as a research fellow in the Department of Politics, Macquarie University (1998-2004), then as a Lecturer in Sociology (2004-2006) at the same University. He joined the School of Historical Studies at the University of Melbourne in 2007. Sean’s major interests are in the histories of social movements, class, and democracy. orders for food delivery platform workers. [Bio from Sean Scalmer’s Melbourne University webpage]