Published Thursday, 15 March, 2007 at 11:55 AM
Minister for State Development, Employment and Industrial Relations
The Honourable John Mickel
WORK CHOICES FIRST ANNIVERSARY NO CELEBRATION FOR WORKERS
Frustrated and concerned employees and employers have flooded two Queensland Government industrial relations information services during the first 12 months of John Howard’s Work Choices regime.
Employment and Industrial Relations Minister John Mickel said employees had experienced unfair dismissal, reduced work conditions and been coerced into individual agreements, while employers had complained of the lack of information about Work Choices.
“March 27 is the first anniversary of Work Choices but there won’t be too many workers and their families or fair minded employers celebrating,” Mr Mickel said.
“An estimated 18,000 calls have been taken on the Fair Go Queensland Advisory Service and Wageline and more than 700 claims of pay rip offs have been forwarded to the Office of Workplace Services during the first year.
“Nearly 240 callers have been helped after revealing they were dismissed or had their employment conditions downgraded. Nearly 90 percent were dismissed outright and the rest pressured into resigning or coerced into an Australian Workplace Agreement.
“The worst part of all this is that these figures are just the tip of the iceberg. Many people were too scared to give their name and contact details, especially those from the country where callers said they could be targeted for dismissal and find it difficult to secure another job in the area.”
Mr Mickel said Queensland had legislated to protect young workers and public servants and ordered an inquiry into gender pay equity and an Industrial Relations Commission review of the new laws, as well as setting up the info lines.
“Ultimately, though, a Rudd Labor Government will need to be elected to scrap Work Choices,” he said.
He said there was absolutely no evidence that Work Choices was responsible for the surge in employment over the past 12 months as claimed by federal Employment Minister Joe Hockey.
“Increased employment growth is confined to Queensland and Western Australia - both states riding the resources boom,” he said.
“Employment growth in Victoria, which is entirely under the federal system, is unchanged. And those sectors with a high proportion of employment in small to medium sized businesses have not performed any better than those dominated by large businesses.”
Media contact: Chris Brown 3224 7349 or Elouise Campion 3224 6784.
Employment and Industrial Relations Minister John Mickel said employees had experienced unfair dismissal, reduced work conditions and been coerced into individual agreements, while employers had complained of the lack of information about Work Choices.
“March 27 is the first anniversary of Work Choices but there won’t be too many workers and their families or fair minded employers celebrating,” Mr Mickel said.
“An estimated 18,000 calls have been taken on the Fair Go Queensland Advisory Service and Wageline and more than 700 claims of pay rip offs have been forwarded to the Office of Workplace Services during the first year.
“Nearly 240 callers have been helped after revealing they were dismissed or had their employment conditions downgraded. Nearly 90 percent were dismissed outright and the rest pressured into resigning or coerced into an Australian Workplace Agreement.
“The worst part of all this is that these figures are just the tip of the iceberg. Many people were too scared to give their name and contact details, especially those from the country where callers said they could be targeted for dismissal and find it difficult to secure another job in the area.”
Mr Mickel said Queensland had legislated to protect young workers and public servants and ordered an inquiry into gender pay equity and an Industrial Relations Commission review of the new laws, as well as setting up the info lines.
“Ultimately, though, a Rudd Labor Government will need to be elected to scrap Work Choices,” he said.
He said there was absolutely no evidence that Work Choices was responsible for the surge in employment over the past 12 months as claimed by federal Employment Minister Joe Hockey.
“Increased employment growth is confined to Queensland and Western Australia - both states riding the resources boom,” he said.
“Employment growth in Victoria, which is entirely under the federal system, is unchanged. And those sectors with a high proportion of employment in small to medium sized businesses have not performed any better than those dominated by large businesses.”
Media contact: Chris Brown 3224 7349 or Elouise Campion 3224 6784.