Post by Niemmy on Oct 11, 2007 1:24:24 GMT -5
Women cop it under WorkChoices
The release of a new report showing that John Howard’s WorkChoices is hurting low skilled, low paid women will hardly come as a surprise to many readers of this newspaper. Our region already has amongst the lowest wages in the country and WorkChoices has only made life worse for women struggling to support themselves and their families.
The report highlighted instances of women who had lost entitlements of up to $100 a week and others were sacked for trying to negotiate with their boss for family-friendly conditions. Locally, I know of many women, especially in the retail, security and hospitality industries, who have been hit with AWAs that strip their previous Award conditions. They are too afraid of unemployment or of being ‘blacklisted’ by other employers to come forward.
Joe Hockey, Minister for WorkChoices, has stated that the practices identified in the report are illegal. The problem with WorkChoices is that it’s the worker’s word against the boss. It’s very hard to prove that you have been pressured into giving up conditions to keep/get a job if there are no witnesses. The North Coast has double the unemployment of the rest of Australia – so the bargaining power is all on the side of the boss, even to the point of workers accepting illegal practices out of fear. Is that fair?
What this report shows is that collective bargaining is needed in workplaces so that individual workers (and especially women) aren’t picked off by unfair bosses. Remember that even good employers are damaged by this process – they are competing against bully boy employers who can undercut with a lower wage bill. At the next election send Howard, Hockey and Co a strong message that workers won’t cop WorkChoices.
Angela Pollard
Dorroughby