The 7.30 Report on September 8 2009 broadcast a fairly long story on the current status of the negotiations on Australia’s new OHS laws. They interviewed the major players and took good advantage of the recent union street protests. The video and transcript are available online.
Category: Gillard
Business drops opposition to Australia’s new OHS laws
A story on the front cover the Australian Financial Review on 8 September 2009 lists the “wins” of the union movement in its negotiations on new national OHS law. But it is the last couple 0f paragraphs on page 8 that are most surprising. The article says
“The coalition dropped its previous opposition to the SafeWork Australia bill, allowing it to pass in its original form, limiting the number of unions and employer representatives on the body to two each and giving Ms Gillard [the Workplace Relations Minister] a veto on the appointment of these representatives.”
This seems to be a considerable backtrack on the strong opposition and media statements coming from employer groups over the last 12 months. One wonders what trade-off the industry associations have managed to obtain.
The changes reported are not very radical for those familiar with the Victorian OHS laws – leave for OHS training and greater protections for union members. But the union movement has (yet) to get a reverse onus of proof or rights to prosecute.
The media release from the IR Minister crows about the Conservatives’ backdown and says little else other than marking the passing of the legislation. Ultimately the biggest benefit of this legislation is clarifying the status of Safe Work Australia.
UPDATE: ACCI media statement
The Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry has released a conciliatory media statement making no reference to its previously strident opposition. The only semi-interesting content (other than the fact of the statement itself) is its reiteration of OHS being a shared responsibility and the need for Safe Work Australia to ensure its independence.
“The message that working safely requires everyone to take their responsibilities seriously now has a better chance of becoming a co-ordinated national message, with parallels to the mutual responsibility message that features in road safety awareness and safe driving campaigns.”
Productivity is also the Government’s aim with OHS law reform
A few posts back the productivity priorities of Australian employer groups toward OHS harmonisation were noted, particularly that of the Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
On 25 August 2009, Australia’s Workplace Relations Minister, Julia Gillard, addressed the 15th World Congress International Industrial Relations Association. The Minister mentioned OHS and said:
“So, our new workplace relations system is now up and running. We are close to reaching agreement with State Governments to end the fragmentation of the past and have the entire private sector by the one national workplace relations system.
Additionally, for the first time ever, after a 25-year wait, Australian businesses and workers are close to having a uniform national occupational health and safety laws. A massive step forward in achieving a seamless national economy that Australia needs to release lasting and much-needed productivity improvements.
But the legal changes are the beginning, not the end, of the reform process.
Australians should now move beyond a focus on law changes to a new focus on cultural change in the workplace. We need to build partnerships between management and workers and their unions that operate for the benefit of all.
Change of this sort is slower to take root than rapid structural reform.
It is more dependent on intangibles, including the goodwill and motivation of those who take part. But in the long run it will have an important impact on our economic prospects.
So over the coming months and years we will be looking at ways of embedding change through workplace relations, innovation and leadership practices in workplaces.” [my emphasis]
Minister Gillard talks of OHS law reform in the same productivity terms as the employer groups. This may be down to the audience at the conference and the congress’ theme as well as industrial relations being the main focus of the government’s reform agenda but it is an inclusion that, for fairness, it was worth highlighting.
Rather than taking the OHS paragraph by itself, it is telling to see the section in the speech that includes the only direct mention of OHS law reform. Minister Gillard continues to emphasise the process of establishing harmony across industrial relations as much as in OHS law.
She also is clearly up on the latest business lingo, even though some of the phrases have a cloudy definition –
- “cultural change”
- “intangibles”
- “innovation”
- “leadership”
- “collaboration”
The Minister rightly states that law reform is at the end of one process but often at the start of a far more difficult reform process. There is no guarantee that the new OHS will have a smooth entry and, as with any law, the best test for its suitability is in the Courts, sadly.
New transport fatigue commitments
Also at the ACTU Congress in early June 2009, the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, also made commitments to improves the health and safety of transport workers. In her speech, Gillard said
And through tripartite engagement we will be reforming independent contracting and the transport industry.Australia’s truck drivers work hard to make a living. But they shouldn’t have to die to make a living. And we will be working on safe rates to prevent them from having to take that risk.We will work with the Transport Workers Union and responsible employers to make sure that drivers are paid for all the work they do.We will make sure that payment methods and rates do not require drivers to speed or work excessive hours just to make ends meet.And through tripartite engagement we will be reforming independent contracting and the transport industry.
Australia’s truck drivers work hard to make a living. But they shouldn’t have to die to make a living. And we will be working on safe rates to prevent them from having to take that risk.
We will work with the Transport Workers Union and responsible employers to make sure that drivers are paid for all the work they do.
We will make sure that payment methods and rates do not require drivers to speed or work excessive hours just to make ends meet.
Tony Sheldon of the Transport Workers Union conducted a press conference shortly afterwards and the press release said:
Transport Workers Union Federal Secretary, Tony Sheldon, said it was time to put an end to the carnage on Australia’s roads where 280 people die each year from heavy-vehicle-related incidents.
“Trucks make up 2 per cent of registered vehicles on our roads but are involved in 22 per cent of fatalities,” Mr Sheldon said.
“We need to make sure owner-drivers and employees are paid for their waiting time, for increases in fuel prices and for proper maintenance on their vehicles so they are not forced to do ‘one more load’ and push the boundaries to make ends meet.”
Australia’s transport industry have been the leaders in getting fatigue on the OHS and industrial relations agenda over the last five years.
The implication in Sheldon’s words above is that fatigue and delivery/schedule pressures are generating road fatalities of drivers and other road users. The Deputy PM made the same link between remuneration and safety. (If any readers can point towards the evidence behind the rhetoric, it would be appreciated).
The challenge for the TWU and, to a lesser extent, the governemtn is that unions represent a minority of transport drivers and so the coverage of union rules and codes of conduct have limited effect. That is not to say that the limited effect is not important but the Deputy PM told the ACTU Congress what it needs to do to make these OHS and IR changes a reality.
Gillard told the congress delegates that they needed to get out into the community and start building membership, as membership is strength. This is particularly important on those policies and initiatives such as OHS and transport safety, where there is broad community impact.
Some of the proudest achievements in the Australian trade union movement have come from those social contracts that have improved living conditions and health, not only just salary levels, to those workers in Australia who struggle to stay financially viable. The union movement needs to reinvigorate its members and itself to improve the quality of life for all and not just the pay packets for some.
Australian Minister’s latest comments on OHS law reform
Last week the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, spoke at the ACTU Congress for 2009. Industrial relations was clearly the principal agenda issue but Gillard did mention OHS. The relevant OHS text of her speech is below.
For those wishing more information about her rowdy reception, coverage is available at several Australian news sites.
The OHS content got no mention in any of the mainstream press and some of the political websites also ignored it.
Prior to the Deputy PM’s speech, the congress held a minute’s silence for all those who lost their lives through traumatic injuries at work. The Deputy PM was presented with a petition (details to come).
During the silence, two relatives of young construction workers in Queensland who had died, were on stage. On screen a role call of the dead scrolled slowly as a backdrop.
Occupational Health and Safety
Friends, as representatives of working Australians you know that nothing is more important to them than safety at work.
Recently State Ministers for occupational health and safety and I reached a vital reform milestone: agreement for the creation of a uniform national occupational health and safety regime.
This is a massive advance for workplace safety. As you will recall, the first, but ultimately unsuccessful steps towards a uniform occupational health and safety regime were taken by the Hawke Government in 1984. 25 years is too long to wait for better laws to cut preventable workplace deaths and accidents. But we are now primed to achieve a great outcome for Australian workers and businesses alike.
Under current occupational health and safety laws, only four jurisdictions allow workers to stop unsafe work – Western Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the ACT. This represents approximately 14.5% of Australian workers. The new occupational health and safety laws will extend this right to all Australian workers.
For too long employers have thought that they could cut costs by cutting corners on health and safety. Under these new laws every employer will understand that cutting corners comes at a huge price.
The penalties under the new occupational health and safety laws will far exceed existing penalties in today’s legislation in Australia. Currently, the highest maximum fine for a corporation is $1.65 million. In some jurisdictions the maximum is significantly less. Under the new laws, the maximum will be increased to $3 million, almost double the largest penalty in the country today.
Through the tripartite body, Safe Work Australia, you will be partners in developing the model laws for this new national system.
Political response to new OHS laws for Australia
The Australian government got what they wanted for the harmonization of OHS laws but some persistent political shenanigans.
Troy Buswell, Western Australia’s Treasurer, is making political mileage with some bluster as the only Australian State run by the Liberal Party. Politically he could not be seen as following the lead of the Australian Labor Party but will “continue our dialogue with the council”. He does not have much option particularly as the Federal Workplace Relations Minister, Julia Gillard reminded him that he could risk his access to federal funding by risking a breach of the inter-governmental agreement. Expect Buswell to concede having saved face.
Joe Tripodi, the New South Wales Finance Minister, has expressed his disappointment. Tripodi knew what was coming as the compromise options had been flagged long ago. But from the state that has the most overtly-influenced government, he perhaps had as much face to save as Buswell in WA. The employers groups in New South must be jumping with joy this morning as one of the most contentious and divisive elements of NSW OHS legislation will go – the union’s right to prosecute. The process for instigating an OHS prosecution is formalized in the new model OHS legislation and still allows unions to begin prosecutions but with less direct control.
Tim Holding, the Victorian Finance Minister, is having trouble containing his excitement.
“This is a resounding endorsement of Victoria’s OHS laws, which will provide the building blocks for the new national scheme”.
Does anyone wonder why Victorians are so disliked by the other States? Is Holding’s over-confidence an indication that the Victorian OHS law was always going to be the dominant influence on the national law and perhaps the model OHS Law review was unnecessary for change and just a case of political processes?
In the euphoria, there are some words of caution. There has always been concern that if any States flexed their muscles and opted-out seriously then true harmonization would not exist and Australia would go back to the fuzzy days of a National OHS Framework that everyone signs up to but does not act upon. It is likely, with the tough Federal Government approach, that this won’t occur however a spokesperson for the Business Council of Australia is quoted as saying (page 3 of the Australian Financial Review 19 May 2009, not available online):
“If any states decide to opt out of the process, then we won’t have a fully harmonised system of OHS and that’s bad for business.”
The government’s response to the model OHS Law review is available online or as a page in this blog.
SafetyAtWorkBlog will be updated regularly over the next few days as interesting and relevant opinions and comments become available.
Australia’s OHS harmonisation likely to fall
Media reports on 11 May 2009 do not provide optimism for the introduction of harmonised OHS laws in Australia. The Australian reports that the ACTU is lobbying Federal ministers over the reports into the model OHS law that are scheduled to be discussed at the Workplace Relations Ministers’ Council on 18 May.
The unions believe that following the recommendations of the review panel will provide workers with lesser standard of safety protection than they currently have.
The government has been slow is responding to the recommendations of the review panel, an odd action given the tight reform timeline they set. However, the government has shown that timelines are flexible even when the future of humanity is threatened by climate change.
The ACTU will be campaigning in the media this week against the weakening of OHS laws, particularly the extremist laws of New South Wales. Whether this is an ambit claim or not will be found out next week but whatever it is it shows regrettable shortsightedness on the part of the ACTU.
The Australian Financial Review (page 5, 11 May 2009, article not available online) seems to take some glee in the fact that the safety laws are “shaky”. The paper may be caught between watching the Government’s agenda failing again or advocating legislative change to reduce the operational costs of its readers. The AFR reports that three States are digging in against the possible OHS law reforms. New South Wales (largely seen as dominated by the trade unions), Queensland (new IR Minster Cameron Dick wants the State’s reverse onus of proof to be applied) and Western Australia have indicated a hesitance to accept.
The Federal Government needs a two-thirds majority for the national OHS legislation to occur and, with a week to go, SafetyAtWorkBlog expects the government to apply some horsetrading for the new laws to pass.
Having said that noone yet knows what the new laws are that will be proposed. The Government has received the review panel reports but has yet to respond to the recommendations.
Any law reform focused on national harmonisation is unlikely to succeed unless there is unanimous support for the reforms. The fear all along with the OHS laws is that agreement will be short-term until state governments decide that their industries or industrial relations situation have special needs and responds parochially and weakens the national strategy.
The challenge for the Federal Minister for Workplace Relations, Julia Gillard, is to achieve unanimity AND lock in State support for several years so that harmony and stability can be achieved. OHS law reform on this scale occurs rarely and all parties should be looking at the long term on this issue rather than their own state-based petty power struggles. We have to wait till early next week to see which States have the mature politicians.