First step towards dismantling ‘Work Choices’ is welcome for working Australians

The Labor Government’s proposed new workplace relations law, tabled in Parliament today, is an important and welcome first step towards reversing the damage done to working Australians by the Liberal and National Parties’ unfair ‘Work Choices’ laws, say unions.

The proposed legislation will ban new AWA individual contracts (AWAs) and phase out existing AWAs by 2013 and begin restoring protections for workers that were taken away by Work Choices.

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It is essential that the proposed ban on new AWAs be passed by Parliament as quickly as possible given employers are still taking advantage of Work Choices to push thousands of workers every day onto lower paid AWAs.

"This day is significant in the lives of all Australians. It signals the beginning of the end of AWAs which were the centrepiece of Work Choices," ACTU President Sharan Burrow said.

"The Australian people overwhelmingly voted at the last election to reject AWAs and the Howard Government's ideological attack on the rights of working people.

"All MPs and Senators should now respect the result of the election and begin to scrap Workchoices by supporting Labor's proposed new IR laws.

"Unions are determined to see an end to Work Choices and will continue campaigning to ensure this ban on AWAs is implemented as soon as possible so that no more workers are hurt by the loss of their rights and conditions," said Ms Burrow.

The proposed new law, titled 'Workplace Relations Amendment (Transition to Forward with Fairness) Bill, introduced in Parliament today, will:

• Ban the use of AWA individual contracts which were used under 'Workchoices' to cut the pay, conditions and rights of hundreds of thousands of working people.

• Set in train the restoration of a fair and modernised set of awards.

• Restore the requirement that workplace agreements cannot disadvantage Australian workers.

These laws will restore workers protection from unfair dismissal, give new rights to workers to bargain collectively and set up and a new independent umpire and fair IR system.