Information from Michael Moore ‐ H R Nicholls Society

Information from Michael Moore ‐ H R Nicholls Society Unionist to speak at HR Nicholls Society event Pip Freebairn Outspoken Health Services Union national secretary Kathy Jackson will give the keynote address at the annual dinner of conservative industrial relations group the HR Nicholls Society, as only the second unionist to speak at the group. Ms Jackson faced an intense backlash from the union movement for the decision to speak at the conference, which will discuss abolishing the Labor government’s Fair Work Act. “Her decision to speak there is absolutely appalling, it is a movement that has at its core the destruction of unions,” HSU acting national president Chris Brown said. “She is acting against the interests of union members by doing this and I can’t see how she can continue to claim she is acting in their interests because it is now clear she is acting in her own interest.” Ms Jackson, who has been locked in a factional war in the disgraced HSU East branch against disgraced national president Michael Williamson, will speak at the conference entitled “Cost, losses and disruption. Another year of the Fair Work Act.” The newly elected secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Dave Oliver, said: “I can’t comment on which forums Kathy Jackson chooses to speak at, but it’s certainly not a forum you will ever see me appear at.” The HR Nicholls Society’s members include former Howard government industrial relations minister Peter Reith and Melbourne barrister Stuart Wood, who has been assisting Ms Jackson in her fight against Mr Williamson, the former president of the Australian Labor Party national executive. Other speakers at the conference include Liberal party strategist Mark Textor, Institute of Public Affairs fellow Louise Staley and former registrar of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission Doug Williams. The HSU East branch, which represents low‐paid hospital workers in NSW, Victoria and the ACT, disaffiliated from the Australian Labor Party in September 2011, but had been a large donor to the NSW ALP branch, giving about $300,000 last financial year. The first union leader to address HR Nicholls Society was Joe Thompson of the Vehicle Builders Union in 1990. Ms Jackson, together with Mr Brown, who represents the other six state branches belonging to the HSU, will appear in the Federal Court today for Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten’s application to appoint an administrator to the union. Mediation hearings were held in Sydney yesterday over the terms on which an administrator would be appointed. Mr Brown said that all sides involved had reached agreement on some matters, but he expected litigation would be necessary to ensure the HSU East branch was separated back to NSW and Victorian branches, a move opposed by Ms Jackson. Ms Jackson could not be reached for comment yesterday. Unions in a 1970s time warp AFR, 16 May 2012, GIFT THIS ARTICLE TO A FRIEND OR COLLEAGUE * Email * Twitter As a subscriber you can gift up to 100 subscriber‐only article views every month. If the recipient sends your link to another person who views the article, this will also be counted as an article view. You have 100 article views remaining to gift this month. Ian Hanke Over coming days, 1000 union delegates will attend the triennial ACTU congress and prove just how out of touch they are with modern Australia. During the congress, delegates will debate policies that call for a return to pattern bargaining; industrial action to be taken with a simple show of hands; and, in effect, unionisation of independent contractors. And that is just the start of the claims. The congress will also vote on the end of “permitted matters” in agreement making so any issues can be included: right of entry conditions and unfair dismissal laws to be considered as minimums that can be built upon in the bargaining process while also demanding fewer rights for employers to take action during an industrial dispute and demanding that Fair Work Australia not be compelled to end a union’s industrial campaign. Perhaps even more retrograde is the call for a tightening on the use of casual workers while demanding greater rights for casuals to become permanent employees. And just to round out the return to the past, the congress will call for the retention of the personal income tax rates of 45 per cent and 37 per cent and maintenance of the current corporate rate, while calling for a “millionaires’ tax”. Tellingly in the draft policies, there is not one mention, not one, of measures to improve productivity. These proposals would result in the unions in effect driving the country back to a 1970s‐style industrial relations system with its strikes, militancy, industry‐wide deals and union interference in management. If these proposals were ever to come to pass, union muscle would be at the centre of any negotiation. These proposals mirror a bygone world in which unions played a central role and which, read in conjunction with the current award system and Fair Work Act, harkens back to the days when people worked 9am to 5pm and there was only one breadwinner in a family. The fact is the world has changed. We now live in an aspirational world. That’s why there are more than 1 million self‐employed contractors and more than 2 million small businesses, and it is why employees want lower tax rates – so they can get ahead and look after their families. As we have seen, the union movement is already claiming it has got 95 per cent of what it wanted before the 2007 federal election and now it is pushing for more. And its demands will find a fertile reception with this government. In its 22‐member cabinet, 15 members have union backgrounds, while in the outer ministry four of the eight members have union backgrounds. So when the next election rolls around don’t be surprised if Labor adopts some of these archaic proposals – to the detriment of the country if it wins office again. Ian Hanke is communications director of the H. R. Nicholls Society. .

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