IR laws, make yourself aware if you are a nurse, manual work

[IanL]

I've cut and pasted this from my 'Info on Sydney' thread, as the reforms are federal (meaning they affect the whole country).

IR Laws: If you are a nurse or any other type of manual worker, driver etc I would strongly urge you to do some reading and research on recent changes to Australia's Industrial Relation Laws. It's the biggest workplace reform in Australia's history and seriously affects the rights of these types of workers. The Government calls them Work Choices but there seems little choice involved for those affected.


These laws don't affect me as I'm a white collar professional but they do affect people whose wages are based on 'awards' (kind of a national wage scale)

I don't pretend to know the ins and outs but they are pertenent particularly to new arrivals or those changing jobs. Just make sure you are aware of them.

[fatpom]

The IR laws will affect every employee in Aus eventually, starting with unskilled labourers rising in the medium to long term to all levels including whitecollar. This isn't a political statement really it's simply down to the dollar. I don't think it will get any worse than the USA & the rest of the western world generally anyway (but what do I know). As an aside it's worth knowing that Australians do some of the longest work hours in the western world - often unpaid.
The big employers aren't putting the squeeze on yet in general probably because they won't want to kill off such an important legislation in its infancy but they'll likely already have a ten year plan.
However, I certainly wouldn't take this legislation into account when deciding whether to come to Aus. There are more personal issues to consider first.

[IanL]

Hi Fatpom,

I can't really see where you are coming from here. Most white collar mgrs I know and certainly in my experience are already subject to an individual contract and have been for years. It goes with the territory, unpaid hours, productivity/project outcome based bonuses , 24hr contactability, compulsory travel etc. Probably the main difference is that in some cases these mgrs have specific industry or project based experience that can be used as a bargaining chip and in many corporations there are not many mgrs doing the same kind of work.

These IR laws really effect workplaces where there are large numbers of the same type of worker (hospitals, hotels, factories etc) and get paid for every hour they work , their collective bargaining power is taken away.


As for Australians working high amounts of unpaid hours, not sure how it stacks up in the Western World as a whole but in APAC Australia currently lies third behind Japan and Korea in this regard. It certainly seems to be a trend that is not reducing in any way.

I do agree that people should not be put off coming by the legislation but would still urge people to be aware, that's all.