Lost in transit

Watching from the Sidelines

Three years ago, I didn't know much more about Australia than "the three Ks": kangaroos, koalas, and convicts. (All right, the three "K-sounds".) And a fourth, that the capital was Canberra, which knowledge I duly used to impress the Australian guy I met in Prague two-and-three-quarter years ago.

Once we started going out, I took it upon myself to read up and learn more about the land down under. One of the things I learned was that Australia has a long and renowned history of labour rights. For example, organised Australian trades workers were the first in the world to win an eight-hour day with no loss in wages, back in 1856.

So it came as a surprise to see that Australia's Federal Government, under Prime Minister John Howard, passed the so-called "WorkChoices" plan, a comprehensive workplace law reform bill that eviscerates the regulations that previously protected employees' rights at work.

Hourly wages here used to be set by the government depending on such things as the industry in question, the position, the worker's skill level, etc., and awarded employees a higher rate if they had to work overtime, weekends, or public holidays. Now, employers can force their workers to replace their previously-set contracts with new ones, called "Australian Workplace Agreements" (AWAs), wherein they can be paid as much or as little as the employer wishes to. On top of that, the "unfair dismissal protection" has been done in for companies with a staff of 100 or less, meaning that their employees can be fired at any time, for any reason at all, and these employees are no longer allowed to seek reinstatement of their jobs or compensation for their loss of income.

An article in today's Sydney Morning Herald tells of a 16-year-old schoolgirl with her first part-time job at a juice bar, who was told only two days after the new laws came into effect that she had been made redundant (i.e. let go) and then "rehired" under a new AWA agreement, which she never signed. Under this new AWA forced upon her by her employer, her base salary was cut by 10 per cent and all extra weekend and public holiday rates abolished. Now, she earns a full 40 per cent less in before-tax salary for her seven-hour Sunday shift.

Another woman, a part-time medical receptionist, recently widowed, was assured by her local Member of Parliament that it would be unlawful for an employer to pressure or coerce an employee into negotiation of a new AWA contract, or to fire someone for refusing to negotiate one. Shortly after the new law took effect, her office manager came to her with a new contract and insisted she sign it on the spot. She asked to take it home for closer study first, and the next morning came to work and asked the manager for a meeting to clarify several points in the new agreement. At lunch that day, the manager fired her on the grounds that her reluctance to sign the contract proved she was not a team player.

The most chilling quote in the piece comes from the juice girl's boss, a man identified only as Andre:

"If they don't want to sign, they can leave," he said. "It's not about what's fair, it's [about] what's right — right for the company."

I never thought Australia was an absolute utopia, but at least it was, I thought, a social-welfare state, as in, a state that looked after the social welfare of its citizens — a state that cared about "what was fair" by providing such things as basic health insurance, low school fees, and industrial relations protection, unlike my homeland, where millions of Americans are left to rot under a pile of debts with bromides about Protestant work ethics and the American dream ringing hollowly in their ears. I thought Australia had to be at least a nicer, more stable place to live than a country with no universal government-provided healthcare or state-subsidised school tuition, a pitiful minimum wage, and a corporate culture that gleefully plundered employee retirement pensions to enrich their superstar CEOs.

Now I sit helplessly and watch as, more and more every day, Australia begins to resemble the country I wanted to leave behind. And I'll be looking for a full-time job once my degree is finished, so what kind of employment contract might I be forced into?

There'll be no assurances for me from my MP, false or otherwise — I pay taxes here but I'm not a citizen, and if I don't like what the politicians are doing, I can't even vote them out. Then again, the government here passed the bill despite numerous and widespread protests and rallies against it, and the disapproval of millions of its citizens.

Yep, it's almost like being back in the US.

Posted by wildsoda at April 10, 2006 12:25 PM