Rudd – No guarantee workers won’t be worse off
Now here is the years best example of Kevin Rudd’s "say one thing, do another" approach to leadership. After months of his party’s constant complaints that "Work Choices" might lead the odd worker to be a bit worse off than they were previously, Kevin comes out and tells us that under his new and improved industrial relations package, workers will be worse off.
Okay, so he said he refused to guarantee they wouldn’t be. By his own standards, that’s the same thing. Why do you think he refused? Because he knows full well that many workers will be worse off. We currently live in basically full employment. Anyone who wants a job can get one, and anyone worth anything can get a better one. So how is it that employers are perceived to have so much power? One reason: Because Kevin said so.
The truth is that Work Choices let employee’s negotiate time off to spend with their family, a higher rate of pay for better quality work, or any other benefit they thought would make their lives easier. But now, we are back to the old style, take what the government says I should give you. Guess what? That’s all you are going to get.
Why is it, for example, that childcare centres, who simply cannot get enough staff (ring one and ask, I guarantee they are looking for staff), refuse to pay any more than the award? It’s because they are not allowed to negotiate conditions with their staff, so they are forced to dole out the same deal to all the staff, some of whom deserve a lot more money, and some, believe me, deserve a lot less.
We’ll just add this to the list of broken or forgotten election promises we’re keeping here at Cranky Queenslander. Rest assured by the time the next election rolls around, it will be a long list!