UnionsWA has temporarily suspended our television advertising campaign against the Barnett Government’s planned changes to WA’s workplace laws, but we will not hesitate to start them again if the Premier pursues workplace changes that will harm WA workers and their families.
We launched the No WorkChoices in WA campaign in 2009, when Troy Buswell wasted more than $1million appointing a former Howard Government lawyer to review a State industrial relations system that was working well.
Colin Barnett is now considering 193 possible changes to our workplace laws. The changes include forcing workers onto individual contracts, stripping back the award safety net, cutting minimum employment conditions and removing unfair dismissal protection.
Unions representing health, education, community safety and a range of other workers have campaigned alongside thousands of ordinary Western Australians to fight these proposed changes, because we know how damaging they are for working people. We also know that making our public sector workplaces less attractive places to work will make it even more difficult to attract the people we need to provide quality public services – particuarly in the new resources boom.
While our campaign has been successful in stopping the implementation of these extrem recommendations so far, we will recommece our campaign if needed.
WA workers simply do not need life made tougher for them at work, when they are finding it increasingly difficult to manage rising electricity, gas, water and other State Government charges at home.
The community has clearly expressed its view about workplace laws at a number of recent elections. We encourage the Premier to listen to the community and work to ensure the more than 300,000 workers remaining in the WA industrial relations system are treated fairly.
View our ad from the Saturday 2nd July edition of The West here.
