General

Australian Workplace Agreements

Miners oppose collective bargaining

ACTU Secretary Greg Combet has called on Australia's mining companies to clearly state whether they will respect two fundamental and internationally recognised democratic rights - the freedom to join and be represented by a union, and the right of workers to bargain collectively with their employer if that is what a majority of employees in a workplace want.

Commenting on the recent campaign by some of Australia's largest and most profitable mining companies against Labor's announcement that it will abolish John Howard's AWA individual contracts Mr Combet said:

"The real agenda of the mining companies in this debate is becoming increasingly clear.

"The objection of the mining companies to Labor's policy to abolish AWAs has less to do with productivity and flexibility, and more to do with the determination of the mining companies to deny employees the freedom to join and be represented by a union and to collectively bargain.

"Australian Mines and Metals Association CEO Steve Knott let the cat out of the bag yesterday when he said that his association opposed collective bargaining, not because of concerns about flexibility, but because mining employers do not want employees to have union representation in negotiations around work conditions.

"Rio Tinto has also been vocal about its objective to keep so-called 'third parties' out of its iron ore operations. It has specifically identified unions and independent industrial umpires as unwanted 'third parties'. This approach is in breach of internationally recognized human and democratic rights, and conventions of the International Labour Organization.

"The freedom to join and be represented by a union is a feature of any decent democratic society. The right of a majority of workers to freely choose to collectively bargain with their employer is also a basic right that workers in countries like the US, Canada and the UK have and they should be respected by mining employers in Australia.

"Any sensible discussion about the needs of the mining industry needs to start with an acceptance by the mining companies that workers should have the right to union representation if they freely choose it, and that where a majority of workers in a workplace want to collectively bargain with their employer they should have the right to do so. If those two rights are accepted the ACTU would be more than willing to sit down and discuss the legitimate commercial concerns of the mining companies," said Mr Combet.

© 2001 Community & Public Sector Union - State Public Services Federation (CPSU-SPSF) - National Office

http://www.cpsu-spsf.asn.au/latest_news/general/20070515_bargaining.html
Last Modified: 15 May 2007