Issue 1 2007
Australia's industrial reforms don't go far enough
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Associate Professor Paul Gollan |
While Australia was in need of radical reform within industrial relations, the opportunity for constructive reform has been lost according to high profile commentator Dr Paul Gollan.
Gollan is the newly appointed associate professor in the Department of Business at Macquarie University and is also Research Associate at the London School of Economics.
"I've said on a number of occasions that the reforms mark a dramatic departure from the past," says Gollan. "However many of the reforms are not based on economic analysis of the issues, many are ideologically based. I believe that the reforms have been used as a political tool to try and neutralise the trade union movement and thus the Australia Labor Party."
Trade Unions
According to Gollan the reforms were necessary as the workplace relations system was becoming increasingly decentralised. Polices were required to accommodate reforms at workplace level. "We also have a situation where we only have 22-23 per cent of the workforce in the trade union movement," explains Gollan. "If we look at the private sector it is down to about 17 per cent, so we need to have system that incorporates the non-union sector and the union sector.
"Whatever arguments that are put forward for a trade union presence in the workforce, the reality is that increasingly many workplaces are non-unionised and fewer employees are choosing to belong to a trade union. While their influence has been eroding over time I believe that Work Choices reforms are trying to decrease the power of the trade unions even further."
Unfair dismissal legislation
One example of a reform that has no economic basis is the unfair dismissal legislation says Gollan. "There is very little research indeed that would tell us that by excluding workplaces with 100 employees or less from the unfair dismissal legislation, that it would actually create any employment."
"If you put yourself in the position of a small to medium sized business with 80-90 employees, you would be very reluctant to employ more people just in case you go over the threshold of 100 and be subject to unfair dismissal laws. That is just one small example where the economics just don't add up. In fact they are taking away over half of the workforce's rights when it comes to unfair dismissal, with little economic gain."
Australian Fair Pay Commission
While Gollan does not agree with the unfair dismissal legislation he agrees with some elements of the Australian Fair Pay Commission which was established with the Work Choices legislation.
"This commission was established with a mandate to identify the economic circumstances of the unemployed and the low paid," says Gollan. "While many of my own colleagues, the trade union movement and the ALP have disagreed with its establishment, to me it is a positive development.
"I believe that sort of approach to ascertain and evaluate the impact of minium wages and also look at welfare, social security, training, the taxation system and how that mix actually affects people is a positive step. Hopefully we can find out if we can really balance the issue of welfare reform, taxation and minimum wages."
For further information contact Paul Gollan pgollan@efs.mq.edu.au His new book Employee Representation in Non-Union Firms was published by Sage Publications in January.