Increase in industrial activity
The last few months have seen a marked increase in the level of industrial activity and the ferocity of the type of industrial action taken by Unions and their members.
The first and most obvious reason for this upsurge in activity is that we are presently in a bargaining season across a large number of industries, which traditionally have high levels of Union membership and industrial activity.
Prior to the introduction of Work Choices, most Unions and industries hurried to get pre-reform Enterprise Agreements negotiated and registered before Work Choices kicked in on 27 March 2006. The corollary of that, is that two and a half years on, these agreements have either expired or are close to expiration, thus we are in bargaining periods across those Government and Non-Government sectors.
Recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicate that time lost to industrial action and the number of disputes that employees are involved in is back to pre Work Choice levels. Is there another reason for the upsurge in industrial activity? Some commentators suggest that the new Government and the promise of new legislation has led Unions and their members to act with more confidence and militancy in pursuing their wage setting goals. While this may hold some water, it is clear from the Forward with Fairness details that have been released, that laws covering industrial action will be very similar to the laws currently in place.
Recently we have seen a protracted wage dispute in Qantas among the maintenance and engineering workforce. This shows little signs of abating over the coming months. In addition, a number of New South Wales Government instrumentalities have been imposing work bans and going on strike in an attempt to break the Governments commitment to low wage increases across the board.
For example, in the last few weeks we have seen disputes arise amongst the Ambulance service, the Fire fighters and of course in our schools with the Teachers Federation. Last month, around five hundred workers from Fairfax Media went on strike in order to further their claims. The company and the Unions ended up agreeing to pay rises of 3.9% to 4.3% per year to journalists which was a management offer made during the stoppage in order to get people back to work.
One of the more interesting industrial disputes has been the saga unfolding in a division of Telstra. Clearly frustrated with the process of bargaining with the CPSU, Telstra pursued an aggressive IR strategy to achieve a Non-Union Agreement across one division of its operation.
In doing so, a number of interesting legal arguments were debated in both the Federal Court and the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. As is often the case, the union movement including the CPSU, the CEPU, the APESMA and the ACTU pursued a campaign involving publishing material, flyers and press releases in order to influence employees voting in the non-union ballot.
This is across a division of Telstra which had traditionally low levels of union membership. Some estimate them to be as low as 20%. Telstra took the Unions to the Federal Court seeking an injunction on the basis that the Unions had breached Section 401(c) of the Workplace Relations Act by making false and or misleading statements in a bid to convince the employees to vote down the non-union deal. In particular, Telstra argued that the Unions had made statements proposing the Agreements would:
- cut workers pay;
- deprive workers of their right to Union representation or support; and
- prevent employees from enforcing them.
The Federal Court dismissed the Application and upheld the Unions argument that in fact these matters did have substance and Telstra’s own documents supported the conclusions, which the Unions had drawn in their material. The final act was played out last week, when Telstra employees voted to reject the company’s non-union Agreement.
